A former Sombrillo Elementary School student is suing the Española School District, after he was allegedly beaten by a music teacher on Nov. 18, 2015.
The attack was so powerful that Gabriel Vigil-Romero, 9, at the time, had his shoulder dislocated.
Albuquerque attorney Cammie Nichols, with the Rothstein Donatelli law firm, filed the lawsuit, Nov. 16, in Tierra Amarilla District Court.
Nichols has another lawsuit pending against the District for the sexual abuse of female students at the hands of former teacher Gary Gregor.
The lawsuit names the District, former Sombrillo Elementary School principal Peter Engler and former teacher and alleged abuser Andrew Valdez, 61.
Española Superintendent Bobbie Gutierrez, who was also superintendent at the time of the incident, said Engler resigned when his contract ended at the end of the 2015-2016 School Year.
She fired Valdez within five days of the incident.
“Esther (Romero) went over and put the man on leave,” she said, referring to the day of the incident.
Romero is the District’s Human Resources director.
She interviewed Valdez on Nov. 20, 2015, and Gutierrez fired him on Nov. 23, 2015.
“From everything, as getting the teacher out of there, and having him removed and terminated, we did that in a quick, swift and timely manner,” she said.
Gutierrez wrote in an email, that Valdez was employed with the District between Sept. 9 and Nov. 23, 2015. The lawsuit alleged that he was also employed by the District in 2011.
The lawsuit contains five counts against Valdez, Engler and the District, including violation of Vigil-Romero’s federal Title IX rights, for a state tort claim and for federal civil rights violations.
No court hearings have been set in the case.
Valdez was indicted, April 5, on three counts of felony child abuse for the attack.
On Sept. 28, he pleaded guilty to three counts of misdemeanor battery and received a sentence of 18 months of supervised probation.
He was never charged in Santa Fe Magistrate Court.
Nichols said, in a Nov. 28 interview, that she tries to stay out of the prosecutors’ way, if possible.
“It’s two different (avenues) for justice,” she said. “So (what) we generally want to see, is they do what they need to do before we take (civil) steps, if we can.”
His admission of guilt means that he cannot deny, in court, that he battered Vigil-Romero.
“It’s a point of admission, so it becomes a fact that’s established, that’s on the record,” Nichols said.
The attack
Gabriel Vigil-Romero was in Valdez’s music class with the other fourth-grade students.
He was wearing a new pair of shoes, after being previously bullied for wearing hand-me-downs.
“(Vigil-Romero) propped his feet on a chair to show them off,” Nichols wrote. “Defendant Valdez yelled at GVR to put his ‘(expletive) feet down.’”
When he did it again, Valdez allegedly yelled at him, then picked up the chair and slammed it on the floor.
“Defendant Valdez then punched GVR in his right shoulder three times with a closed fist,” she wrote. “Defendant Valdez then kicked another male student in the shin and grabbed a third male student’s hair, pulling that student to the ground.”
He then allegedly shouted expletives at the students. Vigil-Romero could smell alcohol on Valdez’s breath, Nichols wrote.
When the teacher, only identified as Ms. Valencia came to pick up her class, Valdez told her that the students were bad and he did not want them to return.
Vigil-Romero then told Valencia what happened.
“There is evidence that Ms. Valencia immediately notified Defendant Engler about what GVR told her,” Nichols wrote.
Engler allegedly told Valencia that he would address the situation and would contact the parents.
Nichols alleged that he never did.
“In the afternoon of Nov. 18, 2015, Defendant Valdez approached the Principal, Defendant Engler, and told him that he had ‘lost it’ and had ‘lost control’ of the class,” she wrote. “He also stated that he wished to drop that class. Defendant Engler did not contact police.”
According to Española/Rio Arriba E-911 Dispatch Center logs, at 9:56 p.m., someone called 911 from the Española Hospital to request that an officer take a report for the attack.
Gutierrez said she thought Engler did call police at the time, but a review of the dispatch logs at the time did not show a record of a call from him.
The calls to the Santa Fe Regional Communication Center were not reviewed.
“When GVR got home from school on November 18, 2015, his older sister saw that he had blood on his clothes and that he had soiled himself,” Nichols wrote. “GVR also began throwing up.”
The sister then called the parents, who were out of town. When they got home, Vigil-Romero was asleep and they woke him up.
“GVR was acting strangely and was unable to walk so (mother Monica Vigil-Moreno) and (the father) rushed him to Presbyterian Hospital in Española, New Mexico,” she wrote.
The following day, Engler collected written statements from the students in the class and all of them confirmed Vigil-Romero’s account.
State Police Officer Mario Herrera wrote in an incident report, that he met with Engler, who told him he contacted the Human Resources Department. Herrera also responded to the initial call at the Española Hospital.
“Defendant Engler stated that they had not contacted the parents of the students assaulted by Defendant Valdez because he had wanted to investigate first, there was a lot going on, and he did not have time to contact them,” Nichols wrote.
Romero interviewed Valdez following the attack.
“Defendant Valdez stated he ‘slapped’ GVR with the back of his hand, but did not remember where on his body,” Nichols wrote.
Herrera copied Romero’s notes from her meeting with Valdez, into a supplemental report.
He wrote that, according to her notes, Valdez said he slapped Vigil-Romero because he “doesn’t deal well with disrespect” and he was angry.
“Mr. Valdez does not remember kicking anyone because he was angry,” Herrera wrote. “Mr. Valdez grabbed (the other student’s) hair since he was also laughing. (The) hair is very short.”
When Herrera called Valdez, he said he would get an attorney and he wanted to see the bruises because the incident “was not that serious.”
History of abuse
Nichols wrote in the lawsuit, that Valdez had been repeatedly accused of sexual misconduct with adults and children.
In 2008, he was investigated by State Police officers, after he was accused of criminal sexual contact.
He went to the alleged victim’s house because she was giving away firewood.
“The woman alleges that, after she told him she did not wish to have sex, Defendant Valdez proceeded to pull up her shirt and pulled down her bra,” Nichols wrote.
He then allegedly ran his hand up her thigh, then left. No charges were filed in that case.
In 2011, his 4-year-old granddaughter allegedly told her mother that Valdez touched her genitals.
State Police investigated, but no charges were filed. He was employed as a music teacher for the District.
In 2012, Rio Arriba County Sheriff’s deputies charged him with battery, use of a telephone to harass and resisting arrest, after he allegedly walked into Mike’s Mini-Mart in Velarde, grabbed his groin area and then grabbed a cashier’s breast.
After he left, he allegedly called the store two times and made inappropriate, harassing statements to the cashier. He was a band teacher for Cariños Charter School at the time.
He also allegedly battered Vigil-Romero a month prior to the Nov. 18, 2015 incident.