A family has filed a lawsuit against an Aramark employee for allegedly attempting to sexually assault their 8-year-old son at an NFL game.
The lawsuit claims Aramark and stadium management company ASM Global were negligent and failed to provide a safe environment.
The accused employee, Ushay Nixon, faces criminal charges and had a prior criminal history including sexual misconduct allegations.
The boy’s parents state the incident has caused him significant emotional distress, including night terrors and withdrawal from his hobbies.
It should have been a triumphant NFL Sunday afternoon.
A mother and father brought their two young sons to watch the Houston Texans play the Arizona Cardinals at NRG Stadium on Dec. 14. It was the family’s first NFL game, which they attended with a group of friends from their Houston area youth football league.
Their oldest son, an outgoing 8-year-old who lives and breathes football, was especially excited. He loves the Kansas City Chiefs and hopes to play college football someday.
But his parents say their son’s gameday experience was corrupted when an Aramark employee allegedly pulled down the boy’s pants and attempted to sexually assault him in a stadium bathroom, according to a civil lawsuit the family filed Jan. 12 in Harris County, Texas.
“He’s been having some night terrors since then and asking questions like, “Why did God let this happen to me?’” the boy’s mother told USA TODAY.
The accused former Aramark employee, Ushay Nixon, is named as a defendant in the suit and is also facing criminal charges related to the incident. Other defendants are Aramark and ASM Global (now known as Legends Global), the company that manages NRG Park where the Texans’ stadium is located.
The suit claims that Aramark was negligent in hiring Nixon, who court records show had a criminal history of sexual misconduct, and argues that both Aramark and ASM Global failed their duty to provide a safe environment at NRG Stadium.
The lawsuit does not name the boy or his parents. To protect the identity of a victim of alleged sexual assault, USA TODAY is referring to them using only their initials used in the civil lawsuit.
“There’s a lot of people here that need to look within and that are ultimately responsible for this,” the boy’s father, JS, told USA TODAY. “He’s a very, very strong kid. I said, ‘We are going to make sure that we tell this story so that it doesn’t happen to any other kids and you’re going to be the hero that they didn’t even know about, because we’re going to put a stop to this.’”
It ‘just didn’t look right’
According to the lawsuit, Nixon was working at NRG Stadium during the Texans-Cardinals game. In the third quarter of the game, the boy’s mother, identified in the suit as ES, took her son (identified as JRS in the lawsuit) to use a men’s bathroom and waited outside.
JRS, a third grader, came out of the bathroom adjusting his pants. As they returned to their seats, a man approached the boy’s mother and said he saw an employee with her son inside the restroom and that it, “just didn’t look right,” the lawsuit said.
ES questioned JRS and he told her that a man pulled down his pants in the restroom. The boy’s father took JRS back to the bathroom and asked him to identify the man. JRS pointed at Nixon, who hid inside a storage closet and was eventually apprehended by police officers.
In a forensic interview with the Houston Police Department on Dec. 19, JRS said a man instructed him to go with him into a bathroom stall. The boy complied because he identified the man, who wore a purple shirt, as an employee. Inside the locked stall, the man pulled down the boy’s pants and underwear. After the man dropped his own pants, the boy ran out of the stall.
Court documents state that police reviewed surveillance video that showed Nixon, wearing a purple polo shirt, entering and leaving the restroom around the time of the reported incident.
Nixon later told police that he’d asked the boy if he wanted to see Nixon’s Pokémon card collection and that the boy got scared and ran away, according to court documents.
The defendants have not yet filed responses to the family’s complaint with the court.
Nixon, 21, remains in the Harris County jail awaiting a scheduled court hearing on Feb. 5. He is charged with one felony count of indecency with a child and one felony count of attempted aggravated sexual assault of a child. His attorney declined to comment for this story.
Aramark did not answer questions from USA TODAY about its hiring process or background check procedure but said in a statement that Nixon is no longer an employee.
“We are aware of this very disturbing situation. The person in question is no longer employed with our organization, and we are fully cooperating with the authorities on their investigation,” Aramark’s statement said.
A spokesperson for Legends Global said the company does not comment on pending litigation. A spokesperson for NRG Park, which is not a defendant in the suit, said, “NRG Park is aware of the lawsuit that has been filed. Because this matter involves an active criminal case and pending litigation, we are unable to comment on the allegations or specifics of the case. The safety and security of all guests is of the utmost importance to NRG Park. We work closely with law enforcement and our contracted partners to maintain a secure environment at all events.”
Lasting mental wounds
Although a hospital examination revealed no physical injuries to their son, ES and JS are concerned about the institutional failures that put him in harm’s way.
Harris County court records show that in 2022, Nixon was charged with indecency with a child and indecent assault in two separate instances. The charges were later dismissed.
The lawsuit argues that Aramark either failed to properly vet Nixon prior to hiring him, or knowingly disregarded the results of his background check. ES and JS want to know why Nixon was allowed to work near children, and they want Aramark and other companies to scrutinize their hiring and staffing policies.
“Regardless of the size of the event or who attends, people should be able to go out with their families and not have to worry about the absolute worst happening to them while they’re attending a sports event or racing event or the rodeo,” JS said. “It definitely takes the excitement away and just bring anxiety, honestly, enough to where you don’t really want to (go).”
ES and JS describe their oldest son as extremely extroverted with a “Golden Retriever” personality, a kid who makes friends with anyone and loves to be active. When he’s not on the football field, where his best positions are corner and receiver, he’s playing football video games or watching his favorite player, “Patty,” Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes.
Since the incident at NRG Stadium, however, his confidence is shaken and he’s become withdrawn. His parents say he hasn’t shown much interest in his hobbies or being around family and friends.
“He loves everyone and everything. He’s got the biggest heart,” JS said. “I hope it doesn’t take that away from him, because, I mean, his light is bright.”
JS said he hopes his family can reach the point where they feel comfortable attending a football game together again. He wants to teach his kids that they shouldn’t let others control their lives. But JS and ES worry about the lasting impact this will have on their oldest son, who is at the age where he was just starting to embrace his independence.
“How is he going to feel in the future trusting employees in places?” ES said. “It just unfortunately really starts to take away trust of adults and people that you believe you should be able to trust. And now it’s kind of shattered.”
ES and JS urge parents to have difficult conversations with their children to protect them.
While they wait for the lawsuit to move forward, the family is attempting to live life as normal, but they know some things will never be the same. JRS recently talked to his 6-year-old brother and warned him about what to do if he encounters a similar situation.
And as Christmas approached, the 8-year-old boy asked his parents for a specific gift.
“Instead of a PS5, he was saying, ‘I just wish Santa could give me an eraser to take it out of my head,’” ES said.
