VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (WAVY) — Virginia Beach City Public Schools and several other named defendants are asking a federal judge to dismiss a lawsuit filed earlier this year by the parents of Giovanni “Vanni” Mauro after video showed that an aide on his bus assaulted him.
Vanni has Down syndrome and is non-verbal.
The video from March 2023 showed bus assistant Lester Langhorne pushing the boy across the seat and using his right hand to push the boy’s throat or neck to keep him in place. The Mauros filed charges and Langhorne pleaded guilty to misdemeanor assault in January.
The Mauros filed their lawsuit shortly thereafter, which also alleged that the driver and his assistant mocked Vanni when it was suggested by a third person that Vanni be put in a garment bag or burlap bag as a way to control him.
In a response filed this week on behalf of VBCPS, former Superintendent Aaron Spence, and the heads of bus transportation and programs for exceptional children among others, the defendants are asking for dismissal of the lawsuit.
They say that Vanni was not discriminated against based on his disability; that the video shows Vanni repeatedly manipulating and unbuckling his seat belt; and they dispute the lawsuit’s claim that the school system was negligent and failed to train its employees properly. The defendants are asking that the lawsuit be dismissed with prejudice, meaning that it could not be refiled later.
The attorney for Vanni Mauro and his parents had no comment Friday, and neither did the school system.
