Halifax-area vice-principal stabbed by student files lawsuit against security guard
In a statement of claim filed April 28, vice-principal Wayne Rodgers alleges that on March 20, 2023, Ryan Cosgrove failed to complete a search of the student and his belongings after the security guard pulled a weapon from the student's school bag.
At the time, all three people were in Rodgers's office at Charles P. Allen High School in suburban Bedford.
ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW
According to an agreed statement of facts presented last year to a Nova Scotia youth court judge, Cosgrove left the office with a butterfly knife and called police, leaving Rodgers alone with the student in an office that was locked from the outside.
Moments later, the student pulled a folding knife from his school bag and stabbed the vice-principal twice as he tried to escape. The boy fled the office and stabbed an administrative assistant in the back before he left the building and was arrested on school grounds.
He later pleaded guilty to two counts of aggravated assault and was sentenced to two years of probation. His identity is protected from publication under the Youth Criminal Justice Act.
Rodgers was stabbed in the upper back and lower chest, which caused air and blood to leak into his chest cavity, according to the lawsuit filed with the Nova Scotia Supreme Court. The lawsuit also alleges Cosgrove failed to recognize the student was getting agitated and aggressive. And the document says the security guard's decision to close the office's locked door left the vice-principal trapped with the assailant.
Attempts to reach Cosgrove for comment were unsuccessful.
The lawsuit also names the Halifax Regional Centre for Education, alleging the education authority failed to properly train Cosgrove in search and seizure techniques or de-escalation procedures. As well, the lawsuit says the education authority is vicariously liable for the damages caused by the security guard, saying the centre was aware of the history of violence at the high school.
The authority was negligent for employing an improperly trained security guard and for failing to have any hiring or training policies for security guards, the lawsuit alleges.
ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW
ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW
On another front, the lawsuit alleges the education authority failed to warn Rodgers about the student's 'propensity for violence.'
The education authority issued a brief statement Tuesday saying it couldn't comment on the allegations because the case, which deals with a private matter with an employee on leave, is before the courts.
Meanwhile, Rodgers continues to suffer from pain, discomfort and other limitations, as well as unspecified psychological injuries, the document says.
The allegations in the statement of claim have yet to be tested in court.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 7, 2025.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Winnipeg Free Press
5 hours ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
9/11 victims' fund architect slams changes to New Hampshire abuse settlement program
CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — An attorney who helped design and implement the 9/11 victims' compensation fund says New Hampshire lawmakers have eroded the fairness of a settlement program for those who were abused at the state's youth detention center. Deborah Greenspan, who served as deputy special master of the fund created after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, recently submitted an affidavit in a class-action lawsuit seeking to block changes to New Hampshire's out-of-court settlement fund for abuse victims. She's among those expected to testify Wednesday at a hearing on the state's request to dismiss the case and other matters. More than 1,300 people have sued the state since 2020 alleging that they were physically or sexually abused as children while in state custody, mostly at the Sununu Youth Services Center in Manchester. Most of them put their lawsuits on hold after lawmakers created a settlement fund in 2022 that was pitched as a 'victim-centered' and 'trauma-informed' alternative to litigation run by a neutral administrator appointed by the state Supreme Court. But the Republican-led Legislature changed that process through last-minute additions to the state budget Gov. Kelly Ayotte signed in June. The amended law gives the governor authority to hire and fire the fund's administrator and gives the attorney general — also a political appointee — veto power over settlement awards. That stands in stark contrast to other victim compensation funds, said Greenspan, who currently serves as a court-appointed special master for lawsuits related to lead-tainted water in Flint, Michigan. She said it 'strains credulity' to believe that anyone would file a claim knowing that 'the persons ultimately deciding the claim were those responsible for the claimant's injuries.' 'Such a construct would go beyond the appearance of impropriety and create a clear conflict of interest, undermining the fairness and legitimacy of the settlement process,' she wrote. Ayotte and Attorney General John Formella responded by asking a judge to bar Greenspan's testimony, saying she offered 'policy preferences masquerading as expert opinions' without explaining the principles beyond her conclusions. 'Her affidavit is instead a series of non sequiturs that move from her experience to her conclusions without any of the necessary connective tissue,' they wrote. The defendants argue that the law still requires the administrator to be 'an independent, neutral attorney' and point out that the same appointment process is used for the state's judges. They said giving the attorney general the authority to accept or reject settlements is necessary to give the public a voice and ensure that the responsibility for spending millions of dollars in public funds rests with the executive branch. As of June 30, nearly 2,000 people had filed claims with the settlement fund, which caps payouts at $2.5 million. A total of 386 had been settled, with an average award of $545,000. One of the claimants says he was awarded $1.5 million award in late July, but the state hasn't finalized it yet, leaving him worried that Formella will veto it. 'I feel like the state has tricked us,' he said in an interview this week. 'We've had the rug pulled right out from underneath us.' The Associated Press does not name those who say they were sexually assaulted unless they come forward publicly. The claimant, now 39, said the two years he spent at the facility as a teenager were the hardest times of his life. 'I lost my childhood. I lost things that I can't get back,' he said. 'I was broken.' Though the settlement process was overwhelming and scary at times, the assistant administrator who heard his case was kind and understanding, he said. That meeting alone was enough to lift a huge burden, he said. 'I was treated with a lot of love,' he said. 'I felt really appreciated as a victim and like I was speaking to somebody who would listen and believe my story.' Separate from the fund, the state has settled two lawsuits by agreeing to pay victims $10 million and $4.5 million. Only one lawsuit has gone to trial, resulting in a $38 million verdict, though the state is trying to slash it to $475,000. The state has also brought criminal charges against former workers, with two convictions and two mistrials so far. The 39-year-old claimant who fears his award offer will be retracted said he doesn't know if he could face testifying at a public trial. 'It's basically allowing the same people who hurt us to hurt us all over again,' he said.
Toronto Star
12 hours ago
- Toronto Star
Newmarket man agrees to terrorism peace bond over alleged youth plot to join ISIS
A Newmarket man accused of plotting to leave Canada to join ISIS while still a youth has been ordered to sign a terrorism peace bond requiring him to remain in the country and avoid extremist material on social media, where prosecutors allege he became immersed in hateful content. The now 19-year-old was arrested last December by the RCMP in connection with a terrorism investigation and was released from custody that same day on strict conditions pending the outcome of a peace bond application. His identity is protected under the Youth Criminal Justice Act because he was a teen at the onset of the investigation.
Winnipeg Free Press
16 hours ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
A former prime minister of Mali is jailed on corruption allegations
BAMAKO, Mali (AP) — A former prime minister of Mali was imprisoned Tuesday following allegations of corruption that he has denied, his lawyer told The Associated Press. Choguel Maïga, 67, led the civilian wing of the country's military junta until his November 2024 dismissal days after he criticized it for postponing elections. He has continued to publicly criticize it. His lawyer, Cheick Oumar Konaré, said the Supreme Court had notified the former prime minister of the charges filed against him by Mali's prosecutor general and ordered that he be placed in custody. The charges follow a report by the West African nation's auditor general on the management of public funds while Maïga was prime minister. No trial date has been set. Earlier this month, another former prime minister, Moussa Mara, was imprisoned after tweeting his support for jailed critics of the junta, which has ruled since coups in 2020 and the following year. In June, Gen. Assimi Goita was granted an additional five years in power despite the junta's earlier promises of a return to civilian rule by March 2024. The junta dissolved political parties in May.
