R.I. jury finds school officials were negligent leading up to Portsmouth teen’s suicide, awards $5m to family – The Boston Globe

The initial complaint accused Portsmouth High School teacher and coach Ryan Moniz and school administrators of inflicting “mental and emotional stress” on the boy in the weeks and days leading up to his death, negligently violating their duties as educators, court filings say.

An earlier independent investigation commissioned by Portsmouth schools had found on Feb. 6, 2018, that Moniz refused to meet with Nathan to accept his apology unless he provided the names of two other students involved in the harassing text messages and phone calls, and that Moniz also threatened to resign as the school’s football coach over the matter.

The day after, on Feb. 7, 2018, Bruno took his own life.

Nathan’s father, Richard Bruno Jr., told the Globe on Friday the lawsuit was “the last thing” he wanted to do. But he moved forward with it after a complaint process with the school district didn’t yield accountability, he said.

When the verdict came down, he was “just relieved that this fight that’s been going on for six-and-a-half years was over,” he said.

“I’m happy that justice was served, and this was really, you know, not just a case about Nathan, but all the youth in our community,” Bruno said.

Court filings show jurors found Principal Joseph Amaral, Assistant and Interim Principal Paige Kirwin-Clair, Jamestown Police Detective Derek Carlino, and Moniz were negligent. The jury also found Moniz’s negligence in particular was a “proximate cause” of Nathan’s mental state that led to his death.

“We have tremendous respect and admiration for Judge [Richard A.] Licht and for the jury system,” Marc DeSisto, an attorney who represented the Town of Portsmouth, said in a statement.

“There are fundamental legal issues still pending in the Superior Court and potentially in the Rhode Island Supreme Court impacting the determination of whether someone should be held responsible for the suicide of another,” DeSisto added. “We will not comment any further until those issues are finally decided.”

In a separate statement, Melody Alger, an attorney representing Jamestown officials including Carlino, who investigated Nathan’s role in the pranks, said: “While Detective Carlino and the Town of Jamestown were disappointed with the finding of negligence, my clients are grateful that the jury agreed that the Jamestown defendants did not cause Nathan Bruno’s tragic death.”

Nathan was a “kind, funny, playful, well-liked kid,” his father said Friday.

“We had a great foundation of family and community, and sports and faith,” Bruno said. “We had a really close relationship.”

On. Feb. 1, 2018, Richard Bruno received a call from Jamestown police, informing him his son had been involved in the prank calls, he said. He immediately reached out to the coach and apologized, and wanted to set up a meeting to have Nathan do the same, he said.

Moniz agreed, and Nathan even bought a gift certificate with his own money to give the coach as part of his apology, he said.

But Moniz changed course on Feb. 6, after he learned members of his football team may have also been involved, and said he would meet with the Bruno family only if Nathan gave him the names of two other students, according to the 2018 report, compiled by attorney Matthew Oliverio.

Moniz knew or should have known that doing so “would have placed a 15-year-old adolescent in a compromised or vulnerable position to be disloyal to his friends,” the report states.

Seeking those names, Moniz also held a team meeting that day where he “threatened to resign and abandon the team, leaving the room to have them ‘figure it out’.” Several team members arrived at Nathan’s home that afternoon, the report states.

“Stuff was said that had an effect on Nathan,” his father said.

Nathan died by suicide the next day.

Moniz “used position of power, authority and influence over emotionally-charged adolescent students to resolve an adult problem — Coach Moniz’s problem, not the team’s problem,” the report says. “In so doing, he knew or should have known that he was causing a schism between members of the team, Nathan, and Nathan’s friends, and he manipulated those relationships to satisfy his own personal interests.”

Later, Richard Bruno learned school staff were already aware of the pranks — and trying to address the matter in school — as well as a criminal investigation, as early as December 2017, but never notified him, he said.

“This was supposed to be an average teenage life lesson — you know, we were talking about prank calls and texts — that turned needlessly ugly,” he said.

Moniz remains a teacher at Portsmouth High School. He filed a still-ongoing lawsuit in 2021 over the report after he was terminated from his coaching position.

His attorney in that case deferred comment to DeSisto on Friday.

In 2021, state lawmakers signed the The Nathan Bruno and Jason Flatt Act, which requires school personnel to be trained in suicide prevention and awareness, and to adopt suicide prevention policies.

“You don’t get over the loss of your child — I mean, I haven’t,” Bruno said. “But I can say that I did everything possible to correct something that went wrong.”

If you or someone you know is struggling with thoughts of suicide, you are not alone. Dial 988 or 1-800-273-8255 for the Lifeline. Text HOME to 741741.

Christopher Gavin can be reached at christopher.gavin@globe.com.