Erin Cox Update: North Andover alum starts fund for teen who went to drive drunk friend home from party
(CBS) - When North Andover High School alum Matt Holland heard that senior Erin Cox had lost her position as captain on the school's volleyball team after she went to drive a drunk friend home from a party, he thought: I need to do something about this.
Holland, 33, was himself an athlete at North Andover in the late 1990s, and told CBS News' Crimesider that he felt the school's zero tolerance for drugs and alcohol even off-campus is overreaching , unfair and embarrassing for the town.
"I don't think they have the legal authority to do this," said Holland.
On Tuesday morning, Holland got online and created the Erin Cox Award for Exemplary Action on gofundme.com. Holland says the goal is to raise $1,000 for Erin and her family. "Maybe they'll use it for college tuition," he said.
As of Wednesday morning, the fund had raised $485.
According to CBS Boston, Cox's family filed a lawsuit against the school in District Court on Oct. 11, but a judge ruled that the court did not have jurisdiction in the case, in which the girl went to pick up a drunk friend, and wound up getting punished for it.
