Daughter Claims|Doctor-Dad Abused Her

PITTSBURGH (CN) - A daughter sued her father, a doctor, claiming he subjected her to years of abuse and violence, including death threats and sexual misconduct.

Kristina Clark sued her father, Dr. Kevin Clark, an ophthalmologist, in Allegheny County Court.

They are the only parties to the complaint, though Kristina, 18, claims that her father subjected her brothers and her mother to abuses too.

Kristina claims her father repeatedly abused her, physically and psychologically, beginning when she was 4.

She claims he punched, hit, kicked and pushed her hard enough to leave bruises, threw her across a room onto her back, walked around the family home naked, forced her to take showers with him, restrained her movement and touched her while she was completely nude, and abused her in other ways.

"On numerous occasions, the defendant held a knife to the throat of the plaintiff's mother, Valette Clark, and threatened to kill her in front of the plaintiff," the complaint states. "During many arguments between Ms. Clark and the defendant, the defendant smashed kitchen cabinets, and destroyed numerous telephones. All of this conduct occurred in front of the plaintiff."

The complaint continues: "Between 1998 and 2001, the defendant would periodically tell the plaintiff's brothers, Michael and Phillip, that, if they misbehaved, then the

defendant would 'go get the broomstick' or 'the curtain rods.' These phrases were a veiled threat, implying that the Defendant would use a broomstick or sharp-edged curtain rods to sodomize the brothers if they misbehaved. These threats periodically occurred in front of the plaintiff.

"On several occasions, between 1998 and 2001, the defendant actually chased the brothers around the house with a broomstick or a curtain rod, threatening to sodomize the plaintiff with these objects. When he would do this, the defendant would make a growling sound, like an animal hunting its prey. This conduct occurred in front of the plaintiff.

"The defendant also engaged in sexual misconduct with the plaintiff. Periodically, between 1998 and 2001, the defendant directed Kristina Clark to take off her clothes and take showers with him. Kristina Clark was between four and six years old at the time.

"The defendant's conduct ceased after approximately August 2001, when the defendant separated from the plaintiff's mother and moved out of the parties' house."

Kristina claims her dad falsely imprisoned her by locking her in a bathroom "for eight to nine hours at a time, with the lights off. On one occasion the plaintiff spent the entire night in the bathroom. The plaintiff was about five or six years old at the time, and afraid of the dark."

The complaint details a laundry list of other alleged abuses, including "threatening to cut off the tongue of the plaintiff's sister, Jennifer Clark, and the finger of the plaintiff's brother, Phillip Clark"; "repeatedly threatening the kill the plaintiff's mother, Valette Clark, with a butcher knife in the presence of the plaintiff. During these incidents, the defendant would tell the plaintiff to 'say goodbye to your mother'"; "repeatedly threatening to kill the plaintiff's brother, Michael Clark, whenever he would stand up to the defendant's threats and abuse"; and "holding a knife to his own throat and threatening to kill himself unless someone told him 'something good.'"

Kristina seeks punitive damages for assault, battery, intentional and negligent infliction of emotional distress, sexual abuse and false imprisonment.

She is represented by Elliott Schuchardt.

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