Boy who had ‘paper’ gun at school sues Crystal Lake District 47, city over police search, ‘racial bullying’

The father of a former Lundahl Middle School student is suing the city of Crystal Lake and Crystal Lake Elementary School District 47 in connection with civil rights discrimination after the student is believed to have held a fake gun made out of paper in the school last year.

Lee Sain filed a federal lawsuit Tuesday on the behalf of his son against District 47, Lundahl Middle School principals, the city of Crystal Lake and Crystal Lake police officers for an unspecified amount in damages.

The child is identified as an African American minor, and the lawsuit asserts that defendants “intentionally discriminated” against him “by knowingly failing to address the racial bullying, intimidation, discrimination, harassment and abuse” against the boy stemming from a “prop” gun he made for a school project that prompted a police report and a dismissal of students for the day.

The lawsuit stems from an incident that happened Dec. 7, 2023, after the student made a “toy gun” that “was made out of paper” and used as part of a school project for which “the teacher congratulated him,” according to the suit.

The student created the paper gun as “a prop for a 1920s skit in social studies class,” according to the lawsuit. Later that day, an anonymous report was made by a student, which resulted in all students and staff being dismissed from school.

Police were called to investigate and, according to the complaint, they also searched the boy’s home without a “valid warrant” and “without probable cause,” during which the boy was “seized,” according to the complaint.

“A racial slur” was made to the child, according to the complaint, but it does not specify by who and what was said.

By the following day, “both students and staff members confirmed the perceived gun was a prop made out of paper,” according to the suit, and the boy’s mother was informed that “no weapons, real or fake, are to be allowed in the school setting for any reason.”

But the harassment and bullying by students that followed “was so severe, pervasive and objectively offensive” that it deprived the boy of access to educational opportunities, the attorney representing Sain, Danielle Pinkston, said in the complaint.

According to the lawsuit, the child suffered and continues to suffer “severe, permanent physical, mental, emotional and economic injuries; alienation; humiliation; embarrassment; loss of self-esteem; loss of reputation; and loss of the ordinary pleasures of everyday life” that has resulted in medical and psychological treatment, therapy and counseling.

According to the suit, the boy was “required to stay home until an investigation at the school could be done to ensure the safety of all students.”

According to the complaint, the defendants violated the federal Title VI Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Fourth Amendment’s protection against unlawful search and seizure. The lawsuit also includes the Lundahl principal and assistant principal over claims that they failed to take corrective action against bullying and harassment.

Pinkston declined to comment. Representatives from District 47 and the Crystal Lake Police Department could not be reached for comment Wednesday.