Victim of Wharton assault suing Penn

The lawsuit seeks to hold the Universityliable for failing to provide adequate security. The female student attacked almost a year ago by a knife-wielding juvenile in a basement bathroom of Steinberg-Dietrich Hall is suing the University for failing to keep her attacker -- a West Philadelphia youth who was unaffiliated with Penn -- out of the building. "While the attack on the plaintiff was perpetrated by a depraved and wicked individual nonetheless," the lawsuit states, "[Penn] is liable by virtue of its undertaking to provide a safe and secure facility to the plaintiff and others of her status and by its breach of such undertaking and failure to provide the adequate and proper security it had represented that it would." Penn has not yet responded to the suit, which the victim filed on September 15, the same day that her attacker, 17-year old Steven Woodson, was sentenced to seven to 15 years in jail for the assault. The victim, a sophomore at the time of the attack, is not currently at Penn. It is unclear whether she has permanently withdrawn from school. "We have received the complaint and in as much as this is a case in litigation we do not have any comment at this particular time," University spokesperson Ken Wildes said. The victim's lawyer did not return repeated phone calls last night. The plaintiff is asking for more than $50,000 for the emotional and physical damage the lawsuit said she sustained as a result of the assault. Police believe Woodson, who was on bail for prior robbery and burglary charges at the time of the attack, gained entry to the building through a side entrance, normally locked at night, that was perhaps propped open by a student so he or she could return later. According to University Police reports, Woodson entered the bathroom while the victim was in a stall and grabbed her as she exited it. He wrestled her to the ground but she managed to escape and hit a panic alarm. Woodson grabbed her again and once again she managed to escape his grasp and hit a second panic alarm, which prompted him to hide in a stall and allowed her to escape. The victim suffered multiple cuts and bruises on her hands and face and "severe emotional distress and terror," the lawsuit says. The attack raised a swirl of protest on campus last winter, as friends of the victim claimed that police officials mishandled the initial call for help and that the first panic alarm she pressed didn't work. Friends of the victim also claimed that the Spectaguard security guard who responded to the second panic alarm took too long to come to the student's aid. But University Police claimed and a witness later confirmed that the alarm did work and that the security guard responded as quickly as possible. In the aftermath, University officials increased security in the 24-hour Wharton building and implemented a policy requiring all students to prominently display their PennCards while in several buildings late at night. The lawsuit claims that in addition to the possible permanent emotional stress and terror that the victim incurred during the attack, she has also been "unable to attend to her usual daily duties, occupations and labors and will continue to be unable to attend to same for an indefinite time in the future."

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