The family of a 16-year-old who was allegedly raped by her high school music teacher is suing the city. The family is seeking over a million dollars, the New York Daily News reported.
Brian Kearins, 34, was arrested in June for the statutory rape of one of his students at Herbert H. Lehman High School. The girl was 15 at the time, the Daily News reported.
"It's had a terrible impact on the girl," Robert Vilensky, the attorney who filed the suit on the family's behalf, told the Daily News. "She's lost confidence in herself and has low self-esteem from the events. It's damaged her relationships."
A spokeswoman for a Law Department said they go against the family's suit.
"We will defend the City's position in litigation," the spokeswoman told the Daily News.
Reports say Kearins, who is married with children, had unlawful sex with the 15-year-old inside the high school for over a year. The teenager's sister found emails between the student and Kearins revealing the affair, police said. Before he was arrested, Kearins allegedly asked the girl to delete any incriminating evidence from her email account and phone, the Daily News reported.
Students at Lehman High School say Kearins was a popular teacher.
"I never knew he did anything like this," Rosemarie Martinez, a senior at the time of the arrest, told Pix 11. "It's a little upsetting because he is a good teacher."
Kearins, a teacher for 10 years, is an aspiring musician with YouTube videos of him playing his guitar, the Daily News reported. Kearins was charged with rape, a criminal sex act and endangering the welfare of a child, Pix 11 reported. He pleaded not guilty and is free on bond. Though Kearins is currently not teaching, he continues to collect his $69,720 salary, the Daily News reported.
