The defendants were members of Long Beach’s Wilson High School surf team. Photo: Wilson High School
A dispute between members of a Long Beach high school surf team allegedly turned violent last year. According to a lawsuit obtained by the California Post, a Wilson High school student was beaten by his fellow surf team members on April 2025 after one of the boys became angry at him for befriending his younger sister.
The ordeal began while the victim, 17, was at his home with the younger sister of his teammate, 15. According to the suit, the victim received a call from the older brother, who allegedly said, “Tell that motherfucker that if you’re with him, I’m going to beat the shit out of him because I’m not fuckin’ playing.” Minutes later, he was at the house, yelling at the boy to open the door because he was going to kill him.
The suit continues to describe how the older brother was told to leave, but returned with two more surf team members, who are also named as defendants in the lawsuit. The three boys proceeded to enter the house through a broken back door, break into a garage where the victim was hiding, then punch him repeatedly in the head and kick him while they recorded it with a phone. Bystanders eventually separated the boys, after which the victim ran away down the street while the attackers followed him in their car.
However, the suit says the ordeal did not end there, and that the teammate who initiated the attack continued to threaten the victim by text for days afterwards. Furthermore, the suit claims that video of the attack was subsequently posted on the surf team’s Snapchat and circulated around the greater school community. Classmates who harassed the victim also called him a pedophile, due to the two year age difference between him and his teammate’s younger sister. On April 25, 2025, a temporary restraining order was issued by L.A. Superior Court against the three boys who allegedly attacked the defendant.
Wilson High principal Rebecca Caverly and assistant principal Keith Roberson, who are also named as defendants in the suit, became aware of the harassment when the boy’s mother showed Caverly threatening texts and voice messages from the assailant. The suit claims that Roberson initially told her that there was not much they could do to help, as the assault occurred off-campus. However, once an anonymous death threat was made through Wilson High School’s official “Say Something” reporting application, the school put together a safety plan for the victim, in which he would arrive at school 10 minutes late and leave 10 minutes early. Still, the lawsuit alleges that all of the attackers were allowed to participate in classes and surf team activities, which in turn made the victim feel unsafe attending them.
In addition to the three surf team members and school faculty, the parents of the three boys are also named as defendants in the lawsuit. The plaintiffs are seeking general, special, punitive, and compensatory damages in amounts to be established at trial.
