LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — The father of a teenager who was beaten to death by his fellow students is now suing the Clark County School District.
On Thursday, Jonathan Lewis Sr. filed the lawsuit in Clark County District Court.
The lawsuit stems from the November 2023 fight near Rancho High School that resulted in the death of Lewis's son, Jonathan Lewis Jr.
Jonathan Lewis Jr. was severely beaten during the altercation involving approximately a dozen of his fellow Rancho High School students. He later died from his injuries.
According to Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department homicide detective Lawrence Gilbert, Lewis threw the first punch. Then, "everybody comes and he's on the ground and everyone is kicking, stomping and punching."
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In the new lawsuit, Lewis Sr.'s attorneys allege CCSD staff should have done more to prevent the fatal altercation.
"The assailants were known by CCSD to have exhibited prior aggressive and/or violent behavior. At least one altercation or conflict involving Jonathan and/or his peers had occurred prior to the incident, and CCSD staff were on notice or should have been on notice of escalating tensions involving Jonathan and other students at Rancho High School," they write in part. "CCSD, through its agents and employees, owed a duty to supervise students, investigate and respond to threats of violence, protect its students from injury or death, and prevent reasonably foreseeable harm to students under its care — even in areas adjacent to campus grounds during or immediately after school hours."
Former Rancho High School assistant principal Neil Balint previously said administrators knew there was "some violent activity within that area."
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This isn't the first lawsuit filed against the district in this case.
In April, Lewis' mom, Mellisa Ready, filed a lawsuit of her own. Attorneys for the district responded in June, arguing that all claims against CCSD should be "dismissed in their entirety."
At least nine students were arrested after allegedly being involved in the fight. Several are named in Ready's lawsuit as defendants.
As of Friday, no future court dates have been set in either case.
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