Former school administrators from Delaware are under fire in a lawsuit claiming they violated a student’s privacy. Aniya Harmon alleges the former acting principal, Bradley Layfield, and assistant principal, Matthew Jones, invaded her privacy in May when she was just 18 years old.
Harmon claimed the men took a screenshot from a school surveillance video that revealed her breast. Shockingly, she alleges the administrators took the photo and created a humiliating meme. Now, she wants the district to pay.
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Surveillance reportedly captured Harmon involved in an altercation with another student.
Harmon and another student were allegedly involved in an argument at Sussex Central High School when a school employee jumped in and tried to stop Harmon, according to a report by HuffPost. The teen’s clothes were allegedly pulled down, exposing her breast. She claims Layfield and Jones took a screenshot of her breast and used it in a meme.
Whoever created the meme apparently thought they were being funny.
The lawsuit accuses Layfield and Jones of creating a meme of Harmon with Janet Jackson. The shot showed the singer’s exposed breast during her infamous wardrobe malfunction during a performance with Justin Timberlake during the 2004 Superbowl half-time show. The Igwe Firm told HuffPost that Harmon said the men invaded her privacy with the meme.
Layfield claims he had nothing to do with the meme.
Layfield’s attorney, Thomas Neuberger, told HuffPost his client simply shared the video with school staff to promote safety but did not create the meme. Jones did not return an email to the news outlet, so it is unclear whether he has obtained an attorney and is defending his innocence.
Through his attorney, Layfield claimed that the staff member jumped in the serious fight with “racial overtones" and accidentally exposed Harmon’s breast for one to two seconds.
HuffPost reported that Neuberger said in an August press release that Layfield is innocent and people need to leave him alone.
“All this having been said, if the district believes it somehow was an abuse of discretion for my client on four occasions to show this video that day, warn him and put a letter in his file and return him to his duties. And clear his good name. STOP THE RUMORS!” the statement read.
Harmon said there was no physical fight at all.
The teen said the altercation was verbal, and although it was loud, it never got physical. Her attorney, Emeka Igwe, said the fight had nothing to do with race other than her client is Black and the other girl is white. Igwe said sharing the video for safety was unnecessary. “This was clearly shared for their perverse amusement … enjoyment,” Igwe claimed. “These individuals had no reason to have to see the video for school safety.”
“The girl was yelling very loudly. I had turned around and told her to be quiet because nobody wants to hear that early in the morning," Harmon said. "After that, that’s when she started coming after me verbally [in a] disrespectful tone. So I had exchanged some words back, and that’s when I was pulled from behind, and my breast had fell out ― my right breast.”
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Harmon and White want a criminal investigation.
Tosha White, Harmon’s mother, told HuffPost the Indian River School District didn’t try to contact her or her daughter about the meme.
“We’re angry. We’re upset. There’s so many emotions running, but I think those are the top ones,” White told the news outlet. “How do you do something like this to someone and then just act like it never even happened or nothing exists?” she asked.
Harmon claimed her social life suffered, and Layfield said he's received threats. Both sides of the case argue they are innocent and don’t deserve to be judged so harshly in the court of public opinion.
“I don’t go out. I don’t do anything. I kind of just go to work and go to school,” Harmon said.
