Judge Grants $3 Million Judgment Against Ex-ETHS Security Guard

CHICAGO — A federal judge awarded a $3 million default judgment against the former Evanston Township High School security guard accused of the sexual abuse of a student in a civil lawsuit filed against him and school officials last year. The school district continues to seek to dismiss the case.

Michael Haywood, 35, of Evanston, has been awaiting trial on one count of criminal sexual assault since February 2019. Haywood is accused of engaging in an improper relationship with a 17-year-old high school student, who cannot legally consent to sexual activities with a person in a position of trust or authority. He pleaded not guilty and is currently on electronic home monitoring in Chicago's Gresham neighborhood, records show.

The former security guard was also named among the defendants in a federal civil rights lawsuit filed in August 2019. The former student who brought the suit is not the same person who prosecutors charged him with abusing.

The amended complaint alleged that conduct by the Evanston Township High School District 202 school board, Superintendent Eric Witherspoon and Principal Marcus Campbell "gave sexual predators access to unlimited prey" and "created a culture whereby no ETHS employees voluntarily came forward to protect female students."

On Tuesday, District Judge Rebecca Pallmeyer granted a motion for default judgment including $2 million in compensatory damages and $1 million in punitive damages against Haywood due to his failure to enter a plea in response to the complaint, appear in court or have an attorney do so on his behalf, according to court records.

Haywood had been served with a notice of the motion for default judgment on Aug. 6, according to an affidavit from a private detective service. Execution of Pallmeyer's judgment is stayed until Sept. 30.

Related:
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School Security Guard Charged With Sexual Assault: Police
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In filings seeking to dismiss the lawsuit, attorneys for the district argued there is no evidence to suggest that school officials knew about any allegation of abuse by Haywood or another security guard named in the suit, who has not been criminally charged, before they were fired.

"Because plaintiffs’ vague allegations lack any timeline, they are not inconsistent with a scenario where the District Defendants did become aware of Haywood’s conduct and then terminated him within a few days or even hours," Attorney Molly Thompson said in a reply brief. "Plaintiffs’ claims are built on threadbare conclusions of knowledge, deliberate indifference, and discriminatory intent."

While the two security guards may have engaged in a continuing course of conduct, there is nothing to establish that administrators were aware of it or did anything that shows a deliberate intention to cause harm or a disregard for the student who brought the suit, she argued.

According to the allegations, Haywood began sexually targeting three 16-year-old ETHS students in September 2018 and engaged in dozens of inappropriate acts.

"Haywood’s sexual abuse and conduct was open, ongoing, persistent, and widespread, such that it was common knowledge, obvious, and/or readily apparent to some (if not all) ETHS staff when it was occurring," attorney Andrew Stroth said, arguing against the district's effort to have the case thrown out before discovery begins. "Haywood’s conduct was so widespread, frequent, and readily apparent that ETHS staff either had actual knowledge and/or knew and deliberately turned a blind eye to his conduct."

In addition to the district defendants, Stroth said other ETHS teachers, counselors and staff knew about Haywood's abuse, including Chief Human Resource Officer Toya Campbell, Assistant Director of Safety Terrence Doby, Director of Safety Matthew Driscoll, Associate Principal for Student Services Taya Kinzie, due to its "ongoing, widespread, and open and apparent" nature.

The school officials named did not respond to written questions about when or if they learned of sexual abuse of students by school security guards.

The $3 million judgment applies only to Haywood — not to any of the other defendants in the case. He is due back in Cook County criminal court on Sept. 22. Pallmeyer's ruling on the school district's motion to dismiss remains pending.