Three Indiana teachers are suing a student who created a Web site containing satanic references, claiming the site’s content left them paranoid in the days after the April 20 shooting at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colo., that left 14 students and one teacher dead.
Brian Conradt, a student at Carmel High School in Carmel, Ind., posted a list of 11 Carmel teachers and administrators whom he accused of being “Satan-worshipping demons” and encouraged students to tease them.
The three teachers who filed the lawsuit were included in the list. The suit accuses Conradt of defamation, intentional infliction of emotional distress and of portraying the teachers in a “false light.” The suit also names Conradt’s mother and seeks damages of up to $5,000 from her under an Indiana statute that holds parents responsible for damage intentionally caused by their children.
The site, which has been taken down, was posted early in 1999, but was not discovered by teachers until April 21.