Aniya Harmon says in her lawsuit that a fight left her breast exposed, and her principal and assistant principal began showing the moment to other educators.
A Delaware teenager is suing her former high school, school district, and two administrators after she alleges a video that showed her exposed breast was turned into a meme by an educator.
Aniya Harmon says that her ordeal began on May 17, 2023, when she arrived at Sussex Central High School in Georgetown and got into an altercation with a fellow student, according to a lawsuit obtained by Inside Edition Digital.
An employee moved in to break up the fight and in doing so pulled Harmon "forcefully by her jacket, bra strap and tank top strap blouse, which caused Plaintiff’s clothes to come apart, exposing her entire right breast," says the lawsuit.
This entire altercation was captured by one of the school's security cameras, according to the lawsuit, which says that Harmon was immediately taken to the school's administrative office where she spoke with both the principal of her school and the vice principal.
The lawsuit says that she gave the assistant principal, Matthew Jones, a copy of the incident report she had filled out about the altercation and was told that "he would review the surveillance/security footage referenced [in her report] to find out what happened."
Harmon claims that she then spoke with the school's principal, Dr. Bradley Layfield, and he told her "that she should leave school for a few days."
Two days later, Harmon says that she returned to school and "learned that Mr. Jones created a meme of the above-described school surveillance video footage of the incident, replacing Plaintiff’s face with that of iconic singer, Janet Jackson," claims the lawsuit.
Furthermore, Harmon alleges in her lawsuit that Jones showed this meme to "other vice principals, administrators, teachers and other recipients."
The lawsuit also accuses Layfield of showing the surveillance video of the incident to "other vice principals, administrators, teachers and other recipients."
To support these allegations, Harmon points out that both Jones and Layfield were placed on administrative leave by the school district "due to the unauthorized publication of the school surveillance video depicting [her] exposed breast."
Harmon accuses Layfield and Jones of invasion of privacy, civil conspiracy, respondeat superior, infliction of emotional distress, and negligence in her lawsuit.
“Mr. Jones and Mr. Layfield knew or should have known that the data they possessed and shared contained private and confidential information and content, including sensitive and private photographs and video of plaintiff’s exposed breast,” the lawsuit states.
She is seeking damages "as the jury/court will award, punitive damages, plus costs and interest, and attorney’s fees."
The school district declined to comment on the matter citing their policy on pending litigation, and an attorney for Jones did not respond to requests for comment.
Layfield's lawyer, Thomas Neuberger, did release a statement about the incident last month in which he said that his client denied wrongdoing and only shared the video of Harmon with " professional staff with a need to know of a dangerous school fight, with racial overtones, that erupted that day."
That footage was allegedly shared with 11 people including staff members, school district personnel, and state police officers, according to Neuberger.
"On May 22nd my client was placed on administrative leave, now 12 weeks ago. In my own opinion, after dealing with 5 decades of employment and civil rights disputes with public officials here in Delaware, I suspect that this is politically motivated either internally at the school or at the central office,” said Neuberger.
Both Jones and Layfield remain on leave pending investigation.
Emeka Igwe of The Igwe Firm, who is representing Harmon, told Inside Edition Digital: "Ms. Harmon and her family would like to see criminal charges for those responsible as a way to deter this from happening to another student at Sussex Central High School or any school in Delaware or around the country."
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