Three Connecticut parents, including two who formerly appeared on the TV show “Grey’s Anatomy,” are suing a Connecticut school district over an incident in which their children were hospitalized after eating candy left on a school bus.
Scott Foley and Marika Foley, who appeared in “Grey’s Anatomy,” are suing the Westport Board of Education, and the company operating the bus their children rode upon when the incident took place, according to WTIC-TV.
The complaint, which seeks unspecified damages, alleges that on Dec. 12, 2022, the Foleys’ son and a friend were riding home from their elementary school when they found candy on the bus.
The lawsuit filed by the parents claims the district and bus driver should have searched the bus after it drove home high school students and before elementary school children went aboard.
As it turned out, the candy that had been left behind by a 15-year-old high school student was laced with THC, the complaint said.
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the suit said the children “started to complain of dizziness, stomach problems, and general confusion,” adding that the Foleys’ nanny “described the children as not looking well, and told their parents she was worried that they had eaten something that they should not have eaten.”
The lawsuit said the Foleys arrived 10 minutes after they were informed the children were not well and that Scott Foley “saw D.C. as having lost all of the color from her face, her eyes as sunken with dark circles under them, and the whites of her eyes as bloodshot; while he saw K.F. as looking sickly, lethargic, and as having trouble walking in a straight line or saying anything coherent.” The lawsuit identified the children only by their initials.
Scott Foley “described both children at the hospital as appearing visibly intoxicated, with D.C. passed out, fairly non-responsive, and left to rest; while K.F. appeared confused, bewildered, high, hallucinogenic, and very apologetic about eating the candy, before falling into a deep sleep 30 minutes after arriving at the hospital.”
The suit noted that the children were ill for about 30 hours.
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The lawsuit said that after school Principal Kimberly Ambrosia was notified of the situation, she replied, “Thank God it wasn’t on school property.”
The lawsuit outlines the ways the parents believed the school district was unresponsive to the incident, including an allegation that they were not allowed to have a statement issued about the incident and the school would not allow them to see video of the children eating candy on the bus until police issued a search warrant on Feb. 3.
The lawsuit said that the Foleys said their son was “extremely traumatized by this incident, as was his second grade brother, to the extent that K.F. and his brother no longer ride the school bus.”
“They report that K.F. has undergone increased therapy, as his anxiety about dying, and about what he eats and ingests, has been severely heightened, to the extent that he also obsessively checks the expiration dates on food items, regularly complains about ‘phantom’ stomach ailments, and also refuses to eat the school lunch food,” the lawsuit said.
A supporting statement from Marika Foley bristled with rage over the school’s response, highlighting a meeting with school officials soon after the incident.
“It was clear during the meeting that the school would rather keep this incident under wraps, whereas we were adamant that K.F. and D.C. wanted to tell their friends exactly what happened. Principal Ambrosia stated repeatedly that maybe the school isn’t the place where this should be talked about and presented a letter that the school would be sending to parents indicating only that kids should not share food,” the statement said.
“The letter said ABSOLUTELY NOTHING about what had actually transpired, made no sense, and felt like a slap in the face. We told everyone in the room, again, that we wanted the community to know exactly what happened on the school bus because it was serious and could happen again if the community doesn’t ever know that this is a real threat. The school district mailed their letter anyway, which warned no one, and stated NOTHING,” the statement said.
“As with all pending litigation, we do not provide comment,” Westport Superintendent Thomas Scarice said, according to CT Examiner.
