SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. — The parents of a 16-year-old girl who shot herself last year are blaming western Pennsylvania school officials who, they contend, wrongly had the girl strip searched and suspended over allegations that the girl brought drugs to school.
Officials with the Slippery Rock School District, about 40 miles north of Pittsburgh, have declined to comment on the federal lawsuit filed Monday by Shane and Sandy Maxwell, of Portersville.
The couple says their daughter, Tiffani, shot herself the day after she was given a 10-day suspension in January 2011, apparently because she was afraid the punishment would keep her from being promoted to the next grade.
The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reports the lawsuit contends a student claimed to see Tiffani with drugs on a school bus, even though her parents say her mother brought her to school that day.
WPXI
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