Yikes.
ALBANY — Former UAlbany men’s basketball player Luke Fizulich has filed a lawsuit in federal court against Great Danes head coach Dwayne Killings, athletic director Mark Benson and the university, stemming from a pre-game incident involving the player and coach in November 2021.
Filed earlier this week, the lawsuit alleges that, under pressure from local business and civil rights leaders, who were “rallied up” by a public relations firm that Killings associated himself with, Benson and the university succumbed “to the pressure of the protest” and reversed the decision to terminate Killings, who is Black, and did not discuss the change with Fizulich, who is white.
“Defendant SUNY Albany and Defendant Benson, instead of protecting Fizulich as the victim of the assault, showed preference to the assaulter because of his race,” the lawsuit states.
The suit was filed in U.S. District Court in the Northern District of New York on Monday, the same day Killings served the fifth and final game of his suspension brought on by UAlbany’s investigation into the incident.
Killings is being sued for both assault and battery and “tortious interference with contract,” the university is being sued for a violation of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, and Benson is being sued for breach of contract.
The lawsuit alleges that before a Nov. 24, 2021, game against Eastern Illinois in Richmond, Kentucky, Killings “violently and viciously grabbed [Fizulich], threw him up against a locker and struck him in the face, drawing blood.”
https://dailygazette.com/2022/11/16/former-ualbany-mens-basketball-player-sues-coach-killings-athletic-director-benson-university/
