A school district in Clifton Park, N.Y., has agreed to pay $700,000 to a teenager who suffered a permanent brain injury when he jumped off the top of a cabinet at the suggestion of a coach.
Joseph Goss, a student of Shenendehowa High School in 2006, was hurt when the school’s wrestling coach was so impressed after seeing him leap off of a cabinet and touch a 15-foot-high ceiling, that he asked him to do it again.
The second time Goss fell and sustained brain damage that caused him permanent disability. The coach admitted that he didn’t try to stop Goss from jumping, but he also claimed that he didn’t think the youth actually planned to leap off the cabinet.
Obviously, the school district didn’t want to see if a jury believed the coach. The history of the case showed that the Coach had encouraged similar behavior in class.
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