An Ohio high school football player and his parents have filed a federal civil rights law suit, alleging his coaches violated his religious beliefs that ban eating pork by forcing him to swallow pizza that was covered with pepperoni grease.
The former Canton McKinley High School student, who is identified in the court document as K.W. (Junior), seeks four millions of dollars in damages for violations of his religious freedom and constitutional rights.
The athlete says in the lawsuit that coaches were notified he did not eat pork or pork residue as a member of the Hebrew Israelite religious faith.
The alleged incident took place May 24 during an offseason workout that was held inside the high school's basketball gym.
Surveillance video footage shows K.W. (Junior) walking over to a chair that had been placed at center court while his teammates trailed behind carrying metal weight plates.
According to the federal lawsuit, the coaching staff punished K.W. (Junior) because he had missed a training session on May 20. He had skipped the mandatory workout because he had injured his shoulder while lifting weights.
Footage shows about 30 players holding the 40-pound weigh plates and running sprints. Following the end of the session, former coach Marcus Wattley ordered him to eat the pizza and indicated his spot on the team was at risk if he didn't, the lawsuit says.
Wattley and assistant coaches Josh Grimsley, Cade Brodie, Zach Sweat, Frank McLeod, Tyler Thatcher, and Romero Harris, a weight room coach and baseball assistant, say the player chose to remove pepperoni and eat the pizza rather than an alternative food.
They weren't aware it violated his religious beliefs, according to a defamation case they filed previously against the teen's father, his attorney Ed Gilbert and school officials.
The six coaches who were fired June 3 have always maintained that they had given him the option to eat chicken nuggets or pizza,
Gilbert told WKYC-TV that the lawsuit was filed after the delay of a settlement that has been reached with the Canton City School District.
An attorney representing most of the coaches, Peter Pattakos, told The Repository newspaper of Canton that they have statements from over a dozen eyewitnesses that indicate the family's allegations are false.
However, Pattakos told WKYC that no agreements had been reached between the teen, his family and the school district.
'There was no settlement with the district over this event for good reason. Ohio law is clear that coaches have wide discretion in fulfilling their duties to train and discipline their players, and case after case has been thrown out of court that, unlike this one, involve real misconduct that caused substantial harm and even death to students, because the state is immune from lawsuits where the coaches were acting within their broad discretion. Any settlement paid by the district in this case would have been an egregious waste of public funds,' Pattakos said in a statement.
'The coaches' defamation lawsuit against attorney Ed Gilbert and K.W.'s father in connection with their wild and fictitious extortion campaign has been pending in Stark County since July,' he added. 'This lawsuit they just filed is only part of their effort to play defense after having been called out on their lies in having started this whole mess.'
Canton City School District Superintendent Jeff Talbert said in a written statement that the claims in the family's lawsuit are meritless and the school board will address them through the legal process, the newspaper reported.
The district suspended several coaches after the allegations arose. The board subsequently voted not to renew coaching contracts for four coaches and deemed three other assistant coaches as ineligible for future coaching positions.
The now-18-year-old student has transferred to a different district after facing 'threats and ridicule' from teammates and the public because of the situation, according to his lawsuit.
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