LITCHFIELD — A high profile attorney has sent a notice to the town that he is “investigating civil lawsuits” on behalf of men who say they were sexually abused by renowned track coach David Driscoll while they were students in the 1980s and 1990s. Driscoll died in September at the age of 81.
On Oct. 31, Stamford-based attorney Paul Slager sent the superintendent of Region 20 Public Schools a letter demanding the district preserve and retain any materials Litchfield has about Driscoll.
“I am now investigating civil lawsuits against Litchfield seeking accountability for terrible ramifications of Driscoll’s abuse of these boys,” Slager wrote.
Driscoll, who founded the Litchfield Track Club and was known for his involvement in the Litchfield Hills Road Race, worked at Litchfield Public Schools as a special education aide, track and swim coach from the 1970s until the early 1990s.
When Driscoll died in September after a brief battle with cancer, some members of the community wanted to honor Driscoll for his contributions to the legacy of Litchfield cross country.
For others, Driscoll’s death has become an opportunity to shine a light on allegations that had previously been left in the dark.
In an interview with CT Examiner, Slager said he represents multiple men who were sexually abused by Driscoll while they attended Litchfield Public School.
“We have information indicating that school officials were specifically told that Driscoll has sexually abused children, and yet school officials allowed Driscoll to continue his contact with children,” Slager said, adding that this has “caused incredible damage to the people I represent, and undoubtedly to many others.”
In 1990, state police began an investigation of Driscoll after John Fitterer, a runner and student at Litchfield High School, came forward with allegations that Driscoll had molested him. After a nearly three-year criminal investigation, police applied for an arrest warrant to charge Driscoll with third and fourth degree sexual assault, risk of injury to a minor and allowing a person under the age of 16 to operate a motor vehicle, but the warrant was refused by then-State’s Attorney Frank Maco on the grounds that witnesses were “uncooperative.”
Driscoll was suspended from his position by the Board of Education in 1993, and later resigned from Litchfield Public Schools.
According to news clips from the time, state police confirmed to reporters that Driscoll was criminally investigated, but did not disclose the nature of the investigation.
Sources close to the case have also confirmed to CT Examiner that Driscoll had an arrest warrant for sexual assault issued against him in 1993 in Maine, where he coached at a Wild Goose Camp for Boys. The warrant was not served and Driscoll was not extradited.
Up until his death, Driscoll was seen at local track and field events.
Community truth and healing event
On Nov. 1, the same day Driscoll was buried, several men who said they had been abused by Driscoll held a community truth and healing event on the town green with advocates in the community. Several of the men, including Fitterer, spoke candidly about the abuse they say Driscoll inflicted on them, including claims that Driscoll would lure middle-school-aged boys to his house where he would squeeze their genitals and perform full-body rub downs. One man recounted an event where Driscoll wrestled a kid on a bed and pinned his arms down with his underwear in front of other children.
Fitterer told the audience that for 33 years, he believed he was the only one who came forward with allegations against Driscoll. At the rally he read from the statement he have given to police.
“The memory of David Driscoll should not only be of a great coach. It needs to include all the pain, the deceit and the manipulation he levied upon all of us,” he said.
Burke Gibney, the first person to share on social media his experience of the abuse, referred to his former coach as a “monster.”
“I’ll just say that every single aspect of his life was deliberately and strategically designed, to give him access to young boys, to groom them over time and sexually abuse them,” Gibney said.
Dan Bird, who said he was also sexually abused by Driscoll, recounted a time when he was taken out of class by two unknown men in suits who asked him about his experience with Driscoll. Bird said he lied to the men and to state police when he claimed that he was never abused by Driscoll.
Matt Hladik, who attended Litchfield Junior High in 1980, provided a statement that was read at the event detailing sexual abuse Driscoll inflicted on him.
“The biggest betrayal I felt as I grew older was the realization that there were, and are, many adults in the Litchfield community that knew what was happening, or suspected what was happening, and did nothing.” he said. “For me, this was a confirmation that the town didn’t give a shit about the kids, only their home-town hero running coach,” Hladik said.
Two local advocates for the men who helped organize the event, Rachel Bernhardt and Amy Sobek, said that so far 10 men have come forward regarding the abuse. But given Driscoll’s long tenure as a coach and camp counselor, they told CT Examiner, they believe there were many more men who were victimized by the coach.
Police investigation and Litchfield schools
Police interviewed members of the community, boys close to Driscoll, parents and members of the school system, according to nearly 90 pages of police reports obtained by CT Examiner.
The investigation was spurred after a private doctor reported allegations of Driscoll’s abuse to the Department of Children and Family Services.
But parents of one of the boys abused by Driscoll told police that they spoke with the principal at the time Michael Malley about how their son was abused by the coach and another staff member. The staff member was fired, the parents said, but still Driscoll remained at the school.
Since 1967, state law has designated teachers, principals and social workers as mandated reporters of child abuse and neglect. School guidance counselors were added to this requirement in 1973.
One boy reported telling the school guidance counselor in 1991 that he was being abused by Driscoll. The guidance counselor told police that he notified the principal of the allegation, but it is unclear whether DCF was contacted by school officials around that time.
One teacher told police that he observed Driscoll in the locker room one day with a male student across his lap, and saw Driscoll spanking the student “several times” in “playful manner.”
Another former teacher at the school described to police that Driscoll always had a favorite boy who had the same physical characteristics, “frail and blonde haired.”
Driscoll himself was interviewed by police, where he admitted to having students over at his house and that he would have boys sit in his lap on a recliner.
He denied intentionally touching students’ groin area, but said that when he was doing wrestling holds with students that his hands might have slipped if the boy was “wriggling away.”
“I could have done tons of incidents throughout the years that could have been misconstrued,” Driscoll told police.
Slager said that the primary goal of his clients is to “shine a light on a very, very dark chapter” and that he expects to gather more information about documentation from the schools that has been preserved throughout the years.
Town attorney Michael Rybak told CT Examiner that he received the notice, but said that he didn’t know if the town was still in possession of any records of Driscoll from more than 30 years ago.