A former high school baseball coach’s alleged bullying led a teenager into suicidal ideation, according to a lawsuit filed by the family.
The lawsuit was filed in District Court on Friday by parents Sela Gagila and Kekoa Won. The defendants are the Clark County School District, Scott Baker, Tyler Baker, Robert Persona, Jason Fitzgerald, The Grind Podcast and Passion 4 Game.
The complaint details what it claimed was a pattern of bullying the couple’s son between 2021 and 2024 at Basic High School, as well as defamation accusations for Scott Baker’s comments on a sports podcast. It accuses the school and school district of failing to adequately respond to what it said were “known abusive employees.”
CCSD said it does not comment on pending litigation. None of the other defendants responded to requests for comment. Scott Baker previously denied bullying the player.
The family previously described many of the allegations — which include several instances of verbal abuse and having his stuff stolen — in an interview with the Las Vegas Review-Journal. Gaglia and Won claimed that Scott Baker bullied their son and spread lies about the player and his family, both before and after he was removed as coach in April 2024.
“This wasn’t an incident. This was a systemic, ongoing attempt by a perpetrator to control, manipulate and destroy our son’s reputation,” Gaglia alleged Wednesday.
The family said that they were driven to file the lawsuit after taking every step within the school district. Their son wanted to protect other students from undergoing something similar.
“The school district has shown that it is unable and unwilling to police itself and do the right thing,” said attorney Harry Peetris, who represents the plaintiffs.
‘We may have lost him’
The lawsuit lays out a pattern of bullying, which it said led the student to have a “severe emotional breakdown” with suicidal ideation in March 2024. It led to medical intervention, according to the complaint. Peetris said that at one point, the student had to sleep in his parents’ room out of fear that he would hurt himself.
“He was in a very, very, very dark place. His childhood was taken away from him,” Won said of his son.
The student was out of school for 292 days, his parents said. He came back for the last baseball season this year under new school and coaching leadership, and the team won the championship. He also plans to play baseball at the University of Hawaii next year.
“It’s a big win after suffering so much throughout the process,” Gagila said.
The family said that even though their son is doing better now, the pain still weighs on both him and the family.
“He did everything to try and destroy our son’s life,” Won said of Scott Baker’s alleged actions. “If it wasn’t for a lot of the mentors in this community who love him and care for him, we may have lost him. That’s how serious it got.”
In addition to the alleged bullying, the lawsuit also makes claims of defamation. On a sports podcast, Scott Baker made defamatory statements about the student’s “character, talent, and contributions to the team with the intent to destroy Plaintiff’s prospects of pursuing his career as a baseball player,” the lawsuit said.
Accusations against principal, school district
The lawsuit also accuses Basic’s then-Principal Gerald Bustamante and the school district in general of failing to respond to the alleged bullying.
In May 2023, a concerned parents group attempted to address the bullying but were ignored by the school, the complaint said. They submitted a complaint to the Clark County School Board.
In April 2024, the family told the school and filed an official complaint, the lawsuit said.
The family also told Bustamante about an alleged unauthorized electronic chat system Scott Baker used. The lawsuit said that because it was unmonitored by CCSD, the system allowed Baker to “further bully, threaten and punish” the student.
The family also filed a bullying claim regarding theft of Won’s belongings in May 2024, but the school did not take action, the complaint said.
The complaint said that Kevin McPartlin, an assistant superintendent in the education services division and student athletics in CCSD, substantiated complaints that there was a culture of bullying created by Baker.
“Defendants acted with reckless abandon and demonstrates indifference to their legal duty of care to prevent harm,” the complaint said.
If you are thinking about suicide, or are worried about a loved one or friend, help is available 24/7 by calling or texting the Lifeline network at 988. Live chat is available at 988lifeline.org.
Contact Katie Futterman at kfutterman@reviewjournal.com. Follow @ktfutts on X and @katiefutterman.bsky.social.
