A teenage girl who filed a federal lawsuit accusing a Richland County sheriff's deputy of kissing and touching her while he worked at her high school has settled her case for $900,000, according to her attorneys.
The girl alleged that Jamel Bradley assaulted her multiple times while she was a student at Spring Valley High School in Columbia, according to the lawsuit, filed in 2018.
Bradley, 41, a former University of South Carolina basketball star, was fired from the Richland County Sheriff's Department in October 2019. The former deputy was later arrested on suspicion of criminal sexual conduct and sexual battery charges related to alleged interactions with other girls. Those charges are still pending.
A girl who filed a federal lawsuit in 2018 that accused Richland County sheriff's Deputy Jamel Bradley of kissing and touching her while he worked at her high school settled her case for $900,000, according to her attorneys. Bradley, a one-time University of South Carolina basketball star, was fired from the department in 2019 and later arrested on suspicion of criminal sexual conduct and sexual battery charges, related to alleged interactions with other girls. File/Provided
James B. Moore is one of the attorneys who represented the girl, who was referred to as Jane Doe in the federal lawsuit. Moore praised his client for having the courage to come forward with information that helped lead to Bradley's arrest.
“This could have stopped long before 2019," attorney Scott Evans, another member of her legal team, said. "The parents of students within Richland County School District 2 need to be asking their administrators some tough questions.”
Moore said District 2 paid $600,000 and the Sheriff's Department paid $300,000 to resolve the case.
Jasmine Rogers Drain, an attorney who represented the school district, confirmed in an email that the case had been settled but declined to comment further "out of respect for the student and her family."
Capt. Maria Yturria, a sheriff’s spokeswoman, declined to comment on the settlement, citing the pending criminal charges.
Bradley was hired as a Richland deputy in 2007 and assigned as a school resource officer at Spring Valley in 2009, according to court documents. During his time at the school, he faced accusations of inappropriate interactions with female students, which were documented in internal affairs records.
The federal lawsuit faulted the Sheriff’s Department and the school district for not properly investigating Bradley's conduct and protecting the girl.
In November 2019, Bradley was arrested and accused of third-degree criminal sexual conduct after the Sheriff's Department said an investigation found he “engaged in criminal sexual activity” in 2018 with a former student. That student was not the one who filed the federal lawsuit.
In May, he was charged with sexual battery after he was accused of having sex with another Spring Valley student in 2015 and 2016. That alleged relationship involved a third student unrelated to Bradley's other accusers, according to the Sheriff's Department.
An attorney representing Bradley in the criminal cases did not respond to a request for comment.
At USC, Bradley led his teams in scoring his junior and senior seasons. In 2002, the West Virginia native helped the Gamecocks reach the championship game of the National Invitation Tournament at Madison Square Garden in New York City.
