Lucas DeCaluwe, a former student at Victus Academy, claims he was bullied and harassed and then lost his place at the school after a fake online threat was posted using his name.
“He’s a kid with a heart of gold,” said his mother, Gail DeCaluwe.  “He didn’t see it coming, and he didn’t know it was going to be set up.”
DeCaluwe said police were called after another classmate made a fake post on social media in an attempt to get the bullies away from Lucas.
According to the lawsuit, the post was a warning to students, saying, “Don’t come to school tomorrow, I’m done with things going on.”  It led to the false belief that Lucas was planning to kill students at Victus Academy in a shooting spree, the lawsuit states.
DeCaluwe said her son, who was 14 at the time, was held at gunpoint in October 2019 while waiting in the car for his dad at the bank.
“My husband had no idea what was going on, Lucas was just shouting ‘Dad, Dad, help me!’  DeCaluwe said.  “It was beyond traumatic for Lucas.”
DeCaluwe said the student who made the fake social media post later confessed, leading to the charges against Lucas being dropped.
The incident occurred during Lucas’ draft in the Ontario Hockey League, and the situation proved to have a lasting impact on his hockey career.
Lucas DeCaluwe poses for a photo in his hockey gear.  (Screenshot/Instagram)
“We knew there were some teams showing some interest in him at the beginning of the year,” DeCaluwe said.  “Interest completely dissipated after the arrest.”
Waterloo Regional Police said they are unable to comment on the case under the Youth Criminal Justice Act.
DeCaluwe said their family has suffered emotionally and financially from the arrest and intimidation.
The lawsuit alleges that the three student hockey players have “irreversibly damaged” Lucas’ reputation and “caused emotional distress and embarrassment.”
“The bullies would try to separate him from all the other students.  It got to the point where Lucas had no one to talk to at school or even eat lunch with,” DeCaluwe said.  “It just got worse and worse.”
DeCaluwe noted that the student who made the fake social media post is not one of the accused students.
The lawsuit alleges that while a student at Victus Academy in Kitchener, Lucas DeCaluwe was bullied and harassed.  (Carmen Wong/ CTV Kitchener)
As for the academy, the suit alleges that “Victus Academy had knowledge or should have known of the accused bully’s behavior and the pervasive and systemic culture of bullying, but failed to take steps or actions to prevent these incidents.”
“He fell completely.  Victus Academy made no attempt to continue his education remotely,” DeCaluwe said.
In an emailed statement, Matthew Schmidt, president of Victus Academy said: “We will vigorously defend ourselves against this allegation as we are an academic and athletic school that promotes respectful behavior every day in everything we do.” doing”.
DeCaluwe said she hopes to see the culture of hockey change and stop bullying.
“My heart breaks for anyone else going through this because I know how damaging this can be,” DeCaluwe said.
Lucas, now 17, has been in counseling and still plays hockey.  DeCaluwe said he feels better every day and is still trying to reach his goal of going pro.