LANSING, MI – A former Lansing Eastern High student says school administrators acted with indifference after an all-state football player raped her on school grounds.

She said school officials ignored concerns that she was in danger and that their failure to promptly respond and investigate subjected her to harassment and a hostile environment.

“Plaintiff was told she was ‘too ugly to rape,’ she should ‘kill herself,’ was called a ‘whore,’ and was threatened with being raped again,” Lansing attorney Karen Truszkowski wrote in a federal lawsuit.

The victim on Monday, May 23, filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Grand Rapids alleging Title IX violations for deliberate indifference to sexual harassment and retaliation, and violation of equal-protection laws.

Edward “E.J.” Jackson, a former star running back, is serving seven years, one month, to 15 years in prison after he pleaded no contest in Ingham County Circuit Court to third-degree criminal-sexual conduct.

He turned 19 earlier this month.

He was sentenced last year in what a judge called “the plea of a lifetime,” the Lansing State Journal reported.

Lansing Public Schools Superintendent Yvonne Caamal Canul did not immediately return messages seeking comment. A school district attorney was not immediately available.

The lawsuit names the school district, Canul, principal Donna Pohl and a public safety officer, Willie Rogers, as defendants. Jackson is identified in the lawsuit only by his initials and nickname, EJ, but is not being sued.

The Grand Rapids Press and MLive generally do not name victims or alleged victims of sexual assault.

Before the assault, the victim had a “brief ‘relationship’ ” with Jackson. She ended it after he lied to her about fathering two children, according to the lawsuit.

On Sept. 9, 2014, during the lunch hour, she was in his truck, parked behind a maintenance building at the high school, when he violently raped her, slamming her head against the truck door. Afterward, he ordered her out and he left.

The victim, then 17, went to a friend’s house because Jackson was supposed to be in her next class. The victim was reluctant to report the attack because Jackson was a football star, but her friend and a cousin convinced her to tell school officials.

As she returned to school, she received repeated texts from Jackson saying they were going to get in trouble, the lawsuit said.

Eventually, she wrote, “I am not going to get in trouble, you raped me.”

He allegedly responded: “I know. I’ll pay you.”

The victim, her mother and the cousin showed up at school. They said Pohl acted “annoyed,” and told the victim she could be in trouble for being outside at lunch.

The victim, who felt as if she had a seizure after her head struck the door, said school officials did not ask if she was OK or needed medical help.

Police showed up, took the victim’s statement, and arrested Jackson during football practice.

The victim was taken to the hospital, sedated and had a rape kit completed. She had a CT scan done on her head because of a large bump, the lawsuit said.

The next day, Lansing police detectives interviewed the victim and took photos of her bruises. They suggested she take a few days off from school. She began receiving threats and harassment via social media.

“The threats and harassment have never stopped and continue at the time of this complaint,” Truszkowski wrote.

She said the school district did not contact her client. The victim’s mother, six days after the assault, called Pohl’s office. She said she left several messages and stopped by school to alert officials that her daughter was being threatened.

“Plaintiff’s mother then placed calls to all personnel on the Lansing School District employee, administration, and school board phone rosters, leaving messages regarding her fear for Plaintiff’s safety due to threats and harassment. Not one person returned Mother’s phone calls,” the attorney wrote.

The mother out of “sheer frustration” showed up at school and threatened to call media because no one was returning her calls, the lawsuit said. A secretary called security who told her she would not be allowed on schools grounds if she “behaves that way,” the lawsuit said.

The lawsuit also alleged that the victim, who took online courses, was not allowed to be a basketball cheerleader because she did not attend school. A parent had complained that if Jackson could not play football, she should not be allowed to cheer, the lawsuit said.

“The School District blatantly ignored Mother’s pleas to ensure Plaintiff’s safety and miserably failed in its duty to Plaintiff. Officer Rogers told Plaintiff she was ‘contributing’ to the harassment because she was responding to the comments on her social media accounts,” Truszkowski wrote.

She said the district did not advise her client of her rights or offer counseling. The victim has had to leave the state, she said.

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