The former principal of Pikesville High School whose voice was imitated in a racist, AI-generated recording, according to police, is now suing Baltimore County Public Schools, the athletic director accused of faking the audio and other BCPS employees.

Eric Eiswert filed the suit in Baltimore County Circuit Court on Tuesday, alleging former athletic director Dazhon Darien and other school officials disseminated the fake audio clip to students and others, “causing it to spread rapidly” on social media and receive “millions of views,” according to court documents.

For example, DeRay Mckesson, an activist and executive director of the nonprofit Campaign Zero, posted the audio to his nearly 1 million social media followers, according to the complaint. Several politicians, including former Baltimore County Executive and current U.S. Rep. Johnny Olszewski Jr., also condemned the recording.

As a result, Eiswert faced backlash, the complaint says.

“Mr. Eiswert was subjected to threats of violence and malicious character attacks, along with calls for him to be fired,” his attorneys said in the complaint. “His family was harassed, and all feared for their safety. His professional and personal life were so harmed that it will be difficult and costly to recover the reputation he worked decades to foster.”

Other defendants named in Eiswert’s lawsuit include BCPS Superintendent Myriam Rogers; Human Resources Director Homer McCall; Bobette Watts-Hitchcock, who was in charge of vetting prospective employees for the school system; and two Pikesville High teachers accused of sharing the recording with students without authenticating it.

A school district spokesperson told The Baltimore Sun, “BCPS has no comment on this matter.” Assistant Public Defender Jasmine Hope, who is defending Darien, declined to comment.

In April, Darien, 31, was charged with disrupting school activities after Baltimore County Police said he created the falsified audio recording of Eiswert.

The recording included offensive statements made about Black teachers, Black students’ test scores and Jewish parents. Eiswert had to be removed from the school and required a police presence at his house due to online threats.

The man’s voice in the recording says he has to “put up” with “ungrateful Black kids who can’t test their way out of a paper bag” and Black teachers who “should have never been hired.”

Rogers immediately removed Eiswert from his position and refused to correct the record, according to the complaint. BCPS representatives said the recording was “at a minimum, substantially altered, compiled in a fraudulent and deceptive manner, and possibly fabricated using AI tools.”

“Mr. Eiswert and his family continued to endure public humiliation and violent threats,” the complaint reads.

Darien is accused of retaliating against Eiswert, who did not renew Darien’s contract for the coming school year amid an investigation into Darien’s alleged misuse of school funds, according to a 17-page police report

“Despite its obligation, BCPS failed to act with any urgency to address Mr. Eiswert’s concerns,” the complaint says. “When BCPS failed to act, Mr. Eiswert took the only available action he could and informed Darien in early December 2023 that his contract as the athletic director at Pikesville High School would not be renewed for the 2024-2025 academic year.”

From there, Darien is alleged to have used surreptitiously obtained recordings of Eiswert’s voice to create the fabricated audio recordings, lawyers said.

Within 48 hours of the fake audio being published, Eiswert’s union representatives provided the school system with “neutral and credible expert analysis” that the audio was fake, the complaint says. No evidence was provided that the recording was genuine, and Eiswert passed a polygraph test on Jan. 19, 2024, his lawyers said.

In a meeting conducted with the county school board, Eiswert was eventually reassigned from his position at Pikesville High and named the principal of Sparrows Point Middle School.

“When Mr. Eiswert asked to be heard during the meeting, BCPS abruptly ended the meeting and refused to answer any questions,” the complaint reads. “Mr. Eiswert has suffered reputational harm and severe distress manifesting physically.”

Eiswert is seeking compensatory and punitive damages against each of the defendants in excess of $75,000, in addition to interest, costs and attorney’s fees.

Darien’s trial in Baltimore County Circuit Court is set to begin Jan. 28. He faces charges of theft, retaliating against a witness, stalking and other offenses.

Baltimore County State’s Attorney Scott Shellenberger said this was the first time his office has prosecuted a case related to AI and one of the first they could find in the country.

Have a news tip? Contact Todd Karpovich at tkarpovich@baltsun.com or on X as @ToddKarpovich.