Graphic video shows vicious beating of Alabama football player, prompting $12M lawsuit
Outside Davidson High School in Mobile, Ala.
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The parents of an Alabama high school quarterback filed a $12 million lawsuit Monday after their son suffered a broken arm in an alleged hazing incident at his school.
The lawsuit also asks Davidson High School, in Mobile, to forfeit its upcoming season, fire the entire coaching staff, bring felony charges against the players involved in the attack and ban hazing in all high schools across the U.S., FOX10 reported.
The suit, filed against Mobile County, comes in the wake of a graphic video that surfaced last week that appears to show multiple players beating Rodney Kim Jr., 14, in the school’s locker room, according to FOX10. About 20 players were allegedly involved in the incident, hitting and kicking Kim on the floor, his parents told the station.
WARNING GRAPHIC VIDEO
"There's some hatred in there, I mean they beat him, they maliciously beat him. I mean, it's just uncalled for...I mean you never envision your child, being so helpless, and you can't do anything," Rodney Kim, Sr., told FOX10.
The teen was taken to the hospital and suffered a broken arm, busted lip and several bruises, the station reported. Mary Kim, the boy’s mother, told AL.com her son has had trouble sleeping since the attack.
"They've taken from him his dream, how much is a dream worth? They've taken from him his dream of being a football player. He was a star football player...So $12 million, why $12 million? Because it's not enough for what they've left this boy with, he is damaged for life," Charles Bonner, the family’s attorney said at Wednesday’s press conference.
"It's not the kids who beat him, who savagely attacked him, that are responsible. We expect kids to be kids. We don't expect adults to whom we entrust the lives and the safety of our children to turn a deaf ear and a blind eye and say nothing about this kind of violence."
Four players have been suspended since the attack and Mobile County District Attorney Ashley Rich plans to prosecute the students responsible, according to FOX10.