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Background: Former Pikesville High School Principal Eric Eiswert (WJZ). Inset: Dazhon Darien (Baltimore County Government via WBFF).
Nearly a year after a fake audio recording depicting a racist rant by a Maryland school principal went viral, the principal has sued the school’s former athletic director for making the false recording and permanently harming his reputation.
Pikesville High School Principal Eric Eiswert was the purported subject of what was said to be secretly recorded voice footage of Eiswert making racist and antisemitic statements in January 2024. The clips were widely shared on social media, in which Eiswert’s voice was seemingly heard ranting that “ungrateful” Black students couldn’t “test their way out of a paper bag,” and that if he, “get[s] one more complaint for one more Jew, [he’s] going to join the other side.”
The “secret” recording, however, was fabricated via the use of artificial intelligence programs. Police allege the school’s athletic director, 31-year-old Dazhon Darien, manufactured the recording to retaliate against Eiswert for opening an investigation into Darien’s misuse of school funds. Darien now faces charges of theft, disturbing school operations, retaliating against a witness and stalking.
In a 28-page complaint filed Jan. 7 in Baltimore County Court, Eiswert alleged that Darien used his access to school resources to covertly record Eiswert’s voice, then manipulate the recordings to create the false audio clip. Eiswert said that as a result of the manufactured “recording” and Darien’s efforts to circulate the clip among students, the fallout was severe; the former principal asserted that he and his family were subjected to harassment, threats, and public ridicule.
The post of the recording was widely disseminated via social media by politicians, civil rights activists, and others who denounced Eiswert and called for his removal as principal. Ultimately, Eiswert was removed as principal, despite his having passed a polygraph test about the true origin of the audio.
“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,” said the complaint.
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Further, Eiswert said he was prevented from accessing school email and cut off from colleagues while being publicly ostracized — and all the while, the district superintendent refused to inform the public that the then-viral audio was false.
Eiswert’s complaint argues that Darien perpetrated several lies on the school district, and that the district and its employees did nothing to check his background or verify his claims. Eiswert alleged that Darien lied about his educational background and said he had two master’s degrees — neither of which there is any record of Darien actually receiving. Eiswert said that Darien lied about having the required teaching credentials and that “even the most cursory vetting process would have uncovered the truth,” but that the school made him athletic director anyway.
As athletic director, Darien misused funds, spent thousands of dollars on uniforms without authorization, and bullied students and staffers, according to the complaint. Eiswert said that the school did nothing even after he reported Darien’s misdeeds, and that as principal, he took the one action available to him — and declined to renew Darien’s contract as athletic director for the following year.
Then, said the complaint, Darien retaliated by using school computer equipment to record Eiswert’s voice and run the recording through artificial intelligence tools in order to create the false recording.
Eiswert raised claims against Darien for defamation, federal civil rights violations, and against the school and its officials for negligent hiring and supervision. He asks for unspecified damages in excess of $75,000.
Eiswert argued that school administrators “refused to correct the record and act in accordance with the information they knew to be true,” and that the school “arbitrarily and, with deliberate indifference, punished Mr. Eiswert over allegations that were quickly proven false and continue to punish him to this day.”
The criminal case against Darien is expected to go before a jury later this month. Darien has been released on $5,000 bond.
Eiswert’s attorney, Brian Cathell, said the following in an emailed statement to Law&Crime Friday:
On Tuesday, we filed a lawsuit on behalf of our client, Eric Eiswert, against Baltimore County Public Schools (“BCPS”) and others, to address what we allege are systemic failures to properly vet and supervise employees — failures that have put the safety of staff and students, and the integrity of our schools, at risk. As further alleged in our complaint, BCPS’s failure to follow its own hiring and oversight processes caused significant damage to Mr. Eiswert, and its lack of response to the defamatory audio encouraged the continuing harm. Mr. Eiswert has spent his career as a dedicated educator and is hopeful that this lawsuit will drive meaningful change in protecting students, teachers and administrators.
Representatives for the school district did not immediately respond to request for comment.
You can read the full complaint here.