Ex-student sues North Babylon schools over strip search

Being strip-searched by school security guards left student Patrick Sullivan the subject of ridicule among his North Babylon High School classmates, Sullivan testified Monday in the trial of his lawsuit against the school district.

"People made jokes," Sullivan, 19, said from the witness stand in Brooklyn federal court. They would say, "Be careful of security guards. They might try to touch you," he testified.

Sullivan was a 14-year-old freshman in 2005 when school officials accused him of trying to sell a cell phone between classes, arousing suspicions that he was involved in a spate of thefts at the school. Sullivan sued the district for $250,000, claiming his constitutional rights were violated in the search.

The suit pits his parents against each other. Sullivan's father testified on his behalf Monday. His mother, a teacher at the high school, is due to testify for the school district this week.

Sullivan told a federal jury Monday he was searched three times, and in the process was touched inappropriately on his genitals by one of the security guards.

The school district, which rejected U.S. District Judge Carol Amon's suggestion in January to settle the suit, contends Sullivan was searched for the cell phone and during that search was found to be carrying a knife. That discovery, school attorney Lewis Silverman told the federal jury, necessitated Sullivan's being patted down again by a police officer.