Four former Mead High School football players and their parents filed a lawsuit on Nov. 8 against Mead School District for failing to protect the Black players and take action against the assaults, harassment, and racial discrimination the four student-athletes allegedly faced from their teammates.
The lawsuit described that two of the four players were assaulted by their white teammates with battery-powered massage guns while at Mead summer football camps at Eastern Washington University in 2022 and 2023. Following the assault, the white teammates involved told the other two student-athletes that they were “next.”
According to the Spokesman-Review, the 2023 massage gun assaults were reportedly recorded and sent around Mead High School and the surrounding community. The nearly 40-page lawsuit by Sweetser Law Office in Spokane and Connelly Law Offices is filing for damages because school administrators were allegedly made aware of the extensive abuse, and they repeatedly failed to report or take action against the racist conduct. Reports and videos of the assaults were reported in the next few months in 2023 to several members of the Mead staff, including the boys’ football coach, Keith Stamps, and athletic director, John Barrington.
The lawsuit said, “They inexplicably failed to inform the victims’ parents about the harassment in anything resembling a timely manner. The result: a group of white football players went unchecked as they tormented Black teammates.”
After the 2023 incident ran unchecked, the white teammates allegedly continued to torment the four Black students. The lawsuit described instances of intimidation, being called racial slurs, and even that one of the students was sexually assaulted in the school locker room by two of the white assailants. In January of the same year, the suit states that one of the Black players was punched and sprayed with water while inside a Mead wrestling team van in the school parking lot by one of the alleged white football team players. The incident caused him to have a panic attack and was allegedly witnessed by the wrestling coach, who called it “just a little stuff.”
It took eight long months after the 2023 assaults for school officials to inform the victims’ parents that their children had been assaulted, and the Mead students’ parents were stunned by the lack of action on the school officials’ part.
One parent claimed that they had reported some of the racial hatred and assaults to Mead in August, but the coach stated to the players, “In our day, we used a stick; you guys have gone soft.”
In a school meeting, Mead High Principal Kimberly Jensen claimed that their investigation indicated that the reported incidents didn’t rise to the level of hazing and that it was just “boys being boys.”
The mother of the player who was punched in the parking lot reported the incident to the school administration, but they allegedly did nothing. It was only when she reported the assault to an outside source that the player who punched him was to be held from practice for two weeks as punishment. Even then, the wrestling coach pushed the victim to agree to reduce the already short punishment to last just a single week. The lawsuit claims that there was a clear disregard for how the Mead administration handled the assaults since the victims were boys. One of the parents stated powerfully, “If this had been a girl involved, we’d call it gang rape.”
All four of the Black student plaintiffs have transferred from Mead due to the severity of harassment from their fellow teammates and other students and being repeatedly failed by the school system. The lawsuit states that one of the students was found to be researching how to commit suicide on a school computer.
Colin Prince of Connelly Law Offices said, “These clients, more than anything, feel a real responsibility to make sure that this doesn’t happen again or to anyone else.”
Travis Hanson, the Mead Superintendent, released a statement claiming that Mead doesn’t tolerate discrimination or harassment in its district schools.
Hanson wrote, “We are aware of the lawsuit that has been filed and take these allegations seriously. As this matter is now in litigation, we will not be commenting publicly about the numerous inaccuracies in the lawsuit or on the specifics of the case. Our attorney has asked that we allow the facts to come forward in the context of litigation.
We recognize that litigation can be an inherently difficult process for all participants. The district does not want to make the process more difficult for the involved students or their families by debating this matter publicly. Any further comments will be at the discretion of the attorneys representing the district.”He continued, “In a letter this spring to district parents, district officials said a significant number of student-athletes took part (both directly and indirectly) in inappropriate and offensive behavior that involved elements of hazing, including acts of intimidation and targeted harassment.”
“Details about what happened at team camp came in bits and pieces over an inordinately long period, and ultimately, the severity of what took place last summer was fully realized at a time months removed from the actual incidents.”