Parents sue school after 10-year-old son expelled for referencing YNW Melly
Florida rapper YNW Melly is still facing legal troubles and is currently going through a retrial. However, some of the lyrics that have been played in the courtroom are still causing trouble outside of it.
That said, a 10-year-old student, Encino Curtis, was recently expelled from school for emailing the lyrics of YNW Melly’s ‘I Have Murder On My Mind’ to a classmate including a toy gun emoji.
However, the parents of the child have sued the $38,000-a-year Los Angeles private school. Their lawsuit reportedly claims that the student was the victim of an”arbitrary and capricious” decision. It alleges that the school provided “no evidence of a policy being violated or of the classmate feeling threatened.”
It’s still unclear what compensation or damages the parents are seeking. However, it has been confirmed they are determined in their legal pursuit. The parents insist that Curtis has always been a straight-A student. Furthermore, they claim he has never been a threat before and explained how he and his friends “hung out during recess immediately after the Sept. 25 email exchange and also attended the school fair together at the Santa Monica Pier the following day.”
The unnamed school has released a statement regarding the situation, reading, “While we were disappointed to learn about the litigation, our priority is to ensure a safe and secure campus for all of our students. We are unable to comment on individual students.”
Curtis’s parents also sought to highlight the hypocrisy of the school’s principal, Meera Ratnesar, in the lawsuit, which explained, “The emails between the two friends do not appear to violate any student conduct rule, and the squirt gun emoji is available on the Curtis School’s IT system that is used by the students.”
It continues, “On information and belief, Respondent Ratnesar did not impose any similar discipline on Petitioner’s friend, nor was his friend barred from campus nor expelled. Respondent’s final decision to expel Petitioner and bar him from campus is arbitrary and capricious.”
The YNW Melly case is one that could see him go to federal prison for a double homicide. In 2019, the emcee was arrested and charged with first-degree murder following the killing of his collaborators, YNW Sakchaser and YNW Juvy, in 2018. He denies all accusations of wrongdoing and has pled not guilty.
The Florida musician could even face the death penalty if found guilty. However, this is not certain. Considering the multiple charges against the rapper, the minimum sentence will undoubtedly be life.