U.S. DISTRICT COURT Leetonia student, family sue over boy's beating at school

The boy accused of inflicting the beating is not named in the lawsuit.
By BOB JACKSON
VINDICATOR COURTHOUSE REPORTER
LEETONIA -- The family of a Leetonia boy who was severely beaten up in a high school locker room last year is suing the village school district and its administrators for more than $5 million.
A lawsuit was filed this week in U.S. District Court, Youngstown, by Nicholas Aratari and his parents, Joseph and Maureen Aratari, of Walnut Street.
Named as defendants are Superintendent Thomas Inchak, former high school principal John Rydarowicz and high school gym teacher Nicholas Donatelli.
The suit centers on an attack on Nicholas Aratari, 14, on Dec. 10, 2002, in the high school locker room.
The lawsuit says Thomas Hart, 16, punched Aratari in the face, smashed his head into a bench and several lockers and continued beating Aratari even after he was unconscious.
Injuries suffered
Aratari suffered several facial fractures and torn eye muscles, the suit says.
His nose was broken and displaced, and he required implantation of a metal plate to repair a broken orbit bone. He required reconstructive surgery and was hospitalized for weeks.
Hart, who is not identified as a defendant in the suit, is being tried as an adult in Columbiana County Common Pleas Court, charged with felonious assault.
He could be sentenced to up to eight years in prison if he is convicted.
The suit says that before the attack on Aratari, the county sheriff's department had warned school officials about Hart's violent tendencies and recommended that he be removed from school.
In failing to do so, the district denied Aratari proper protection, the suit says. It also says the defendants were negligent for failing to properly supervise Hart.
bjackson@vindy.com