The San Ramon Valley Unified School District has agreed to pay the parents of 15-year-old Benjamin Curry $8 million to settle a lawsuit filed after the Danville teen drowned during his high school PE class.
Curry died May 8, 2018 in the pool at San Ramon Valley High School when his physical education class was instructed to tread water for 3 minutes – then ordered to continue for another 30 seconds by Physical Education teacher Aaron Becker.
Andrew Schwartz, who represented Karen and Thomas Curry in their suit against the district, said video of the pool area that day showed Becker standing on a diving board looking at his cell phone about 15 feet away as Curry, in apparent distress, slipped under the water and drowned.
Curry’s body was not found until the next class gathered to use the pool. Attorneys representing the district had maintained that Becker was not using his phone at the time of the drowning. The lawsuit was meant to go to trial later this month.
The family sued the district and Becker for wrongful death in November of 2018.
Tragic and sad.
How awful.
It is sad and tragic, and sadly no amount of money will bring your child back.
“Curry’s body was not found until the next class gathered to use the pool.” That’s hard to accept. Very sad.
So hard to see it boiled down to dollars and cents.
The camera hardly ever lies. Awful case.