Student hurt while running from wasp swarm at HS gets $85K settlement
By Anthony G. Attrino | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com
Paterson officials have agreed to an $85,000 settlement with a former high school student who was injured when he fell over a pothole while running from a swarm of wasps in 2016 at a city high school.
The city council voted to pay Luis Silverio, now 20, the settlement in exchange for dropping his claim against the city, Mayor Andre Sayegh said Wednesday.
The amount is in addition to $100,000 the Paterson Board of Education agreed to pay last July.
Silverio fell while running from swarming wasps after his fellow students at John F. Kennedy High School tossed rocks at a nest in a tree.
Silverio, who had been running laps with other students at the instruction of his gym teacher, fled back toward the high school as students began getting stung by the wasps, according to the 2017 lawsuit, filed in Superior Court of Passaic County.
While running, Silverio fell into a pothole and suffered "physical, emotional and psychological injuries," the suit claimed, alleging that the track was in a dilapidated condition.
The incident occurred at Westside Park during an outdoor gym class. The city of Paterson was named as a defendant for failure to maintain the track.
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Anthony G. Attrino may be reached at tattrino@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @TonyAttrino. Find NJ.com on Facebook.