Suit: New Trier cheerleading coaches acted with ‘indifference’ before student suffered head injury

Less than a month after three other cheerleaders were hurt in separate practices, a fourth New Trier High School cheerleader suffered a head injury after she was dropped while attempting a “full down” in fall 2012.

A newly filed lawsuit alleges that two cheerleading coaches and a trainer at the high school in the wealthy North Shore suburbs were negligent and should never have let the girl attempt the maneuver in the first place.

The lawsuit, filed Tuesday in Cook County Circuit Court, goes on to claim that none of the supervising adults called for emergency services when the girl was dropped and instead called her mother to take her home.

New Trier High School’s district and Board of Education, along with the two coaches and trainer, were named as defendants.

All defendants acted “with an utter indifference and conscious disregard for [the student’s] safety,” the suit stated.

According to the suit, two of the three cheerleaders who were first hurt suffered “a concussion and/or brain injury,” while the third broke her ankle, all under the watch of the coaches.

A representative from New Trier’s school district and Board of Education could not be reached for comment Tuesday night.

The three-count suit alleges willful and wanton conduct and negligence and seeks more than $150,000 in damages.