The parents of a Louisiana student who was allegedly attacked by a classmate in 2022 have filed a lawsuit against the Livingston Parish School System, and the named defendant is reportedly connected to a suspect accused of raping 19-year-old Louisiana State University student, Madison Brooks.
Karson Jones, 18, was accused in August 2022 of raping an “acquaintance after a night of drinking at Reggie’s bar,” in Tigerland, ABC 2 reports. It’s the same bar that Brooks was at when she got a ride home from four people before her death.
The new lawsuit is in connection to a previous sexual assault that purportedly took place during a high school basketball game outing several months before the August 2022 attack.
As CrimeOnline previously reported, Brooks had been out drinking at Reggie’s bar on January 15; she asked for a ride home since she was reportedly too drunk and couldn’t find her friends. Kaivon Washington, 18; Everette Lee, 28; Casen Carver, 18; and 17-year-old Desmond Carter were identified as the defendants in the car with Brooks.
Washington and Carter raped Brooks in the back seat of the car after they left, with Lee and Carver in the front seat, police allege. Then, when Brooks was unable to tell them where she lived, they dropped her off in a subdivision. She was hit by a car driven by a ride-share driver while trying to walk home.
She died at a hospital.
Jones was not involved in the Madison Brooks case but he was arrested last month, alongside Washington, for the alleged August 2022 rape.
Court records in the case state that the victim told police she was too inebriated to drive home; Jones and Washington then drove her over to Jones’ residence, where both men allegedly sexually assaulted her and gave her alcohol forcefully when she asked for water.
The victim reported the assault on January 25, just one day after the suspects were arrested in the Brooks case.
The lawsuit against the school district states that the Livingston Parish School Board and its employee, Doyle High School baseball coach Tim Beatty, should be held accountable for the attack after nothing was done to discipline Jones following the incident.
On the morning of March 5, 2022, a Doyle high school basketball player was reportedly sexually assaulted by his two teammates, including Jones, while they are at a hotel during an away game. Beatty and an assistant coach were in charge of taking care of the students, the lawsuit states, but failed to supervise the students properly.
The victim’s parents said they demanded an arrest but the school principal allegedly laughed it off and said arresting or expelling the “the team’s best player” would upset other parents.
The lawsuit also claims that Jones would frequently expose himself during basketball games and at school but he was never disciplined for his behavior.
So far, Jones has not been arrested or charged in the alleged high school assault.
Meanwhile, the Louisiana Office of Alcohol and Tobacco Control said Friday that Reggie’s Bar in Tigerland, where the teens had been drinking before the incident, was shut down following what happened after the parties left the establishment.
Check back for updates.
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[Featured image: Karson Jones/Police Handout]
