Another victim sues PSD over alleged abuse by former bus attendant Tyler Zanella

A second civil lawsuit against Poudre School District over alleged abuse by former paraprofessional bus attendant Tyler Zanella has been filed in Larimer District Court, with the family of the victim seeking “compensatory damages as determined by a jury” and “further equitable relief” as determined by the court.

The lawsuit, filed Nov. 13 by attorney Stephen J. Baity of the Baity & Lindvig law firm on behalf of a 7-year-old Bacon Elementary School student and her guardian, was shared with the Coloradoan earlier this week. It reads much the same as a lawsuit filed Sept. 29 on behalf of five other victims and their families. And, like the previous lawsuit, the named defendants are PSD, Colorado Department of Education, Colorado State Board of Education, Zanella and up to 50 unknown employees of the school district and others whose names have been redacted from investigative reports.

Zanella, 37, faces 164 criminal charges, including 34 felony counts of assault against at-risk individuals, for acts alleged to have taken place last winter and spring while he was working on Poudre School District buses transporting children with special needs. The other charges against him include 129 misdemeanor charges of assault and harassment and a sentence enhancement for habitual child abuse.

Zanella is due in Larimer County District Court on Friday for a disposition hearing on those charges.

A plea agreement is expected to be presented at that hearing to Judge Daniel McDonald, based on discussions between Deputy District Attorney Laura Hinojos; Zanella’s attorney, Andy Gavaldon; and McDonald during an Oct. 18 court appearance. A family member of one victim confirmed three weeks ago that a plea agreement had been reached, based on their conversations with the district attorney’s office. Baity said Wednesday that he had been told a plea agreement in the criminal case had been reached.

Fort Collins police said they had identified 11 victims during their investigation, primarily through review of video surveillance from PSD buses Zanella was working on. Baity said he was told by the law firm expected to represent PSD in these lawsuits, Lyons Gaddis, that additional victims have been identified.

“I don’t know the total number, but my understanding from counsel for the school district is that there are more than 11 victims,” Baity said.

A PSD spokesperson said Thursday that the district was aware of the lawsuit and reviewing it. Lyons Gaddis did not respond to a request for comment on this lawsuit or the previous one filed Sept. 24.

More: Legal documents reveal new details of abuse case against PSD bus paraprofessional

The latest lawsuit includes many of the same allegations against PSD and the other defendants as the Sept. 29 lawsuit brought by three families on behalf of five victims, including three siblings. The victims have all been identified in the lawsuits by their initials. The Coloradoan generally does not identify victims of alleged crimes unless they specifically ask to be identified.

The victim in the latest lawsuit is identified as a 7-year-old with special needs who was placed in a five-point harness while riding on the PSD school bus.

Zanella, the lawsuit claims, deprived the child of multiple civil rights afforded by federal law while working for the school district by physical assault, battery, false imprisonment and other “extreme and outrageous conduct, leading to emotional distress.”

Video surveillance, the lawsuit contends, shows Zanella striking the child “on or near her head” and, at other times, “poking” the girl. The child was also harmed because she “witnessed Defendant Zanella’s abuse of other children” on the school bus.

Video and audio recorded on the bus, the lawsuit alleges, suggest that “each and every act of the physical and verbal attacks upon these helpless children, including (the plaintiff, identified by her initials), were unprovoked.”

PSD, the lawsuit contends, was negligent in hiring Zanella, given his guilty plea to a misdemeanor charge of child abuse in 2012 in Adams County, and his multiple arrests and convictions for driving under the influence, including an Aug. 18, 2022, conviction in Larimer County. He began working for PSD on Aug. 29, 2022, a school district spokesperson said.

The lawsuit also questions the possible involvement in his hiring of a PSD bus dispatcher who Zanella has a child with and was living with in Wellington prior to his initial arrest May 24, 2023, on multiple charges related to one victim, a kindergartner.

A week after Zanella's initial arrest, police announced they had identified five more victims while reviewing video provided by the school district, bringing the total at that time to six named victims in the case. Zanella faced nearly 130 charges connected to those six children. Thirty-five additional charges, including four more felony counts of abuse against at-risk individuals, involving five additional victims, were filed by the 8th Judicial District Attorney’s Office on Sept. 19.

Other allegations against PSD include the lack of oversight in his hiring; a lack of supervision and oversight of a new employee performing his duties as a paraprofessional bus attendant; failure to investigate previous complaints concerning his conduct on the job, including reviewing available surveillance footage from buses; and failure to implement adequate policies that would have prevented Zanella’s abuse.

More: PSD superintendent shares changes being made, considered since paraprofessional's arrest

As with the lawsuit filed earlier on behalf of five victims, the new complaint again alleges that the school district “attempted to cover up” Zanella’s conduct by lying to Fort Collins police investigators about how long surveillance video from buses is retained and providing only “cherry picked” video to police.

PSD maintains that it reviewed all available footage of Zanella during the initial investigation May 23-29 and immediately shared it with law enforcement.

"PSD staff notified Fort Collins Police Services within an hour of reviewing initial video footage that prompted concerns and led to Mr. Zanella's termination and arrest," the district said in an emailed statement after receiving and reviewing the Sept. 24 lawsuit. "PSD does not control the timeline or pace of criminal investigations, charges or filings. PSD has and continues to fully cooperate with the FCPS investigation."

Like the earlier lawsuit, the latest one also includes allegations that bus drivers and other PSD employees who witnessed or saw other signs of the abuse failed to report it to law enforcement, as required under Colorado’s mandatory reporter laws, either intentionally or because they were inadequately trained about their legal requirement to do so.

Parents and or legal guardians of other victims have told the Coloradoan that they have retained legal counsel other than Baity & Lindvig and are expected to file additional civil complaints against PSD over Zanella’s alleged abuse. None of the other families are currently represented by Baity & Lindvig, Baity said.

All suspects are innocent until proven guilty in court. Arrests and charges are merely accusations by law enforcement until, and unless, a suspect is convicted of a crime.

Reporter Kelly Lyell covers education, breaking news, some sports and other topics of interest for the Coloradoan. Contact him at kellylyell@coloradoan.com, twitter.com/KellyLyell or facebook.com/KellyLyell.news.

Editor's note: This story was updated Dec. 7 with a response from Poudre School District

This article originally appeared on Fort Collins Coloradoan: Another victim sues PSD over alleged abuse by former bus attendant