Torrey Pines High School is facing a lawsuit alleging that teachers and administrators retaliated against two students who expressed pro-Trump views during a February protest — landing one of them in a psychiatric hospital on a mandatory hold.
Two students at Torrey Pines High School — identified in the suit only as A.F. and M.F. — attended a February 6 rally on the San Diego, California, campus meant to protest Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), but showed up instead to voice support for President Donald Trump’s administration, according to the New York Post. M.F. carried a printout of the letters “LGBT” — each letter paired with an image: the Statue of Liberty for “L,” a rifle for “G,” a glass of beer for “B,” and a photo of Trump for “T.”
M.F. reportedly returned to class after the rally still carrying the flyer — prompting his teacher to become upset and immediately leave the classroom. Three days later, according to the suit, Assistant Principal Angela Guerrero called M.F. and another student into her office and informed them they would serve two days of detention because the flyers had “frightened” other students on campus.
That same week, M.F. was called into the vice principal’s office alone to face more serious accusations: that he’d made “disturbing searches” on a school computer, including “how to load a Glock,” “how to load a magazine,” and “how to dispose of a body.”
M.F. denied making the searches and said other students routinely use classmates’ unprotected school computer logins. Guerrero apparently believed him and sent him back to class. The next day, however, five to six police officers arrived at the school and interrogated M.F. themselves.
“School officials refused to allow M.F.’s parents to see him, instead requiring them to speak with a crisis social worker. The crisis social worker stated that [M.F.’s teacher] requested the police because the searches made Defendant [Theresa] Barnes feel ‘scared’ and ‘unsafe,'” the suit claims.
M.F. was then taken into custody, and police delivered him to a mental health facility on a 5150 psychiatric hold.
While he was being held overnight, law enforcement executed a search of his home and his bedroom — but they found nothing to support the accusations against him.
“M.F. did not research how to load a ‘glock,’ did not confess to murder, was not watching homicide videos, and did not target the LGBT community. The claims were completely false, as school officials were fully aware,” the suit states.
The harassment, according to M.F., did not end there. Although police found nothing and he was allowed to return to school, administrators referred to him as an “LGBT bully,” barred him from playing varsity baseball, forced him into counseling sessions, and pushed him toward testing for “Special Education placement and ongoing mental health monitoring.”
The same school landed in hot water over a different protest when students were allowed to carry signs comparing ICE to the KKK — but one student was suspended over flyers that read, “We love I.C.E. — real Americans.” That suspension was later reversed by the district following pressure from the free speech group FIRE.
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