A star student water polo player racially abused a black teammate and subjected him to a months-long campaign of sexual assault at their $50,000-a-year LA private school, according to a new lawsuit.
Lucca van der Woude called Aidan Romain, both now 18, racial slurs daily, whipped him with ropes, and made slavery references, while also digitally penetrating him on campus, according to the legal complaint filed against van der Woude, Harvard-Westlake School, school president Richard B Commons, and water polo coach Jack Grover.
The lawsuit, filed Friday at Los Angeles County Superior Court, alleges van der Woude and two other teammates repeatedly subjected Romain, who was a minor at the time, to racist and sexual abuse between August 2022 and February 2024.
Van der Woude, who was named the Orange County player of the year by the Orange County Daily Register in December 2024 and was a UCLA commit, was unable to be reached for comment, and no attorneys for him are listed in the lawsuit.
The California Post approached van der Woude’s family and most recent water polo coach for comment, but did not immediately hear back. Grover and Commons also did not respond immediately to requests for comment.
Harvard-Westlake, which has annual fees of $52,500, allegedly failed to report, investigate, or take protective measures after being told about the reported abuse, according to the lawsuit.
Van der Woude and a teammate “constantly dehumanized” Romain by a short form of the slur ‘n—–r’ … virtually every single day for five months,” the lawsuit states.
Romain’s alleged nightmare started on the first day of practice when he was 14, and the only freshman called up to play with the varsity water polo team, he wrote in an impact statement.
The alleged abuse, which included jokes that Romain was the team’s “secret weapon” during night games because his skin was too dark for opponents to see, often happened in front of Harvard-Westlake staff without any action being taken, according to the lawsuit.
On March 29, 2023, Romain’s mother met with the water polo team’s head coach, Grover, who “appeared sympathetic,” according to the filing.
“He [Grover] promised to keep Plaintiff safe and to protect him moving forward,” the suit states.
Van der Woude also allegedly sexually abused another student in the school pool by “digitally penetrating him underwater,” according to the lawsuit.
Romain’s attorneys claim Harvard-Westlake’s alleged failure to clamp down on the abuse led to an escalation.
Van der Woude allegedly “digitally penetrated Plaintiff for the final time in approximately January 2024, as Plaintiff was walking up a flight of stairs on Harvard-Westlake’s campus,” the suit states, adding that this wasn’t the only time he had assaulted Romain on school grounds in front of other classmates.
“In February 2024, after water polo practice, a second teammate cornered Plaintiff in the campus outdoor showers and brutally attacked him – grabbing his penis and striking him repeatedly in the testicles over a perceived verbal slight,” the suit states.
When Romain reported the attack in the showers, the lawsuit states he was punished by being “demoted, isolated, and suspended,” causing him to miss four games.
Just two weeks later, around Feb. 28, 2024, van der Woude was arrested on campus during school hours for sexual assault, the Orange County Register reported.
Despite multiple allegations against van der Woude from Romain and the second student, the lawsuit alleges that Harvard-Westlake covered up his disciplinary record and allowed him to transfer to Newport Harbor High School in Newport Beach in the Fall of 2024, enabling him to continue playing water polo.
Van der Woude “admitted in Los Angeles County Juvenile Division Court … to sexual penetration with a foreign object (digital penetration) against a minor,” on Nov. 7, 2024, as part of a plea agreement with prosecutors, the Orange County Register previously reported.
The court declared him a ward and issued a no-contact order with Romain as part of his probationary conditions.
The suit alleges the severe emotional distress forced Romain to relocate to Barcelona, Spain, in 2024 to continue his water polo training in a safe environment.
Van de Woude went on to represent Team USA internationally and mentored the nation’s top 13 and 14-year-old players at a camp sponsored by USA Water Polo at a prestigious Olympic training site, the Southern California News Group reported in March 2025.
UCLA revoked his commitment due to his legal issues, but he was most recently listed on the 2025-26 roster for Golden West College’s water polo team.
Golden West College, in Huntington Beach, did not immediately respond to requests for comment.