William Frey, a 17-year-old standout on Wilson High School’s surf team, has filed a lawsuit saying his own teammates and school officials failed to protect him after an attack that he claims left him injured and terrified. The complaint, filed this month in Los Angeles Superior Court, says the beating happened on April 17, 2025, and that harassment and threats kept coming afterward. Frey and his mother, Celinda Bradley, are seeking damages from the Long Beach Unified School District, school leaders, and the families of the students named in the suit.
What the lawsuit alleges
According to the filing, as reported by the New York Post, three teammates are named in the case: Owen Keller, Samuel Katz, and Joseph Ziroli. The suit accuses Katz and Keller of punching and kicking Frey “15–20 times each” in the head during the April 17 confrontation. It also alleges that one teammate recorded the attack at Keller’s direction and that the video was then shared on the surf team’s Snapchat channel and spread throughout the school community. The complaint says Long Beach police documented Frey’s bruises, cuts, and head swelling with photographs, and it claims that his home was later damaged, and anonymous death threats were sent through the school’s reporting app.
Team and campus context
Wilson High runs a busy surf program that the school bills on its athletics site as a graded PE class with early-morning beach sessions and a summer schedule. That setup is central to the lawsuit, which argues that the students accused in the attack were allowed to keep going to classes and surf team activities even after school administrators were allegedly told about the confrontation and threats. Additional details about the program are listed by Wilson High School.
Family claims and next steps
The complaint lists Wilson High principal Rebecca Caverly and assistant principal Keith Roberson among the defendants, along with the three students and their parents, and it seeks general, special, punitive, and compensatory damages. Court papers say temporary restraining orders were issued against the students on April 25, 2025, although those orders were later dismissed. The suit states that Frey pulled back from school activities, suffered serious mental health effects, and ultimately moved to Santa Barbara, where he now attends community college. One parent told the press his son did not participate in the beating, even though he recorded it, the filing notes. As reported by the New York Post, requests for comment from the Long Beach Unified School District and from the families of the students named in the lawsuit were not returned.
