EL PASO, Texas (KTSM) — Two more lawsuits against New Mexico State University related to the hazing incidents involving the 2022-23 NMSU men’s basketball team were filed in the 3rd Judicial District Court earlier this week.
The first was filed Aug. 25 by Youngers Law, PA. Former NMSU men’s basketball player Bol Kuir is listed as the plaintiff. NMSU’s Board of Regents, NMSU athletic director Mario Moccia, and former NMSU men’s basketball head coach Greg Heiar are listed as defendants.
The complaint claims Kuir, while with the team in the summer of 2022, witnessed “fighting on and off the court”, inappropriate touching of fellow teammates, and some players carrying guns with them.
The complaint claims Kuir reported the misconduct to Heiar and members of his coaching staff. The complaint says “Bol was specifically told by Greg Heiar that he needed to stop reporting about his fellow players and that he needed to stop being a “tattle tale”.”
Kuir, according to the complaint, did not claim to be a victim of the inappropriate touching incidents during that time.
The complaint says in August of 2022, Kuir was told by former NMSU men’s basketball assistant coach Dominque Taylor that he was no longer part of the team and, without prior notice, had been kicked out of his apartment.
This all allegedly happened after Kuir returned to the Borderland after visiting his family in Sudan after the team’s preseason trip to the Bahamas. The lawsuit says the coaching staff had no problem with Kuir’s trip to see his family and was even told to call the coaching staff for a ride after he arrived at the airport in nearby El Paso.
The lawsuit says “Taylor told him [Bol Kuir] that he had used a key he had to the apartment to get his property out for him and that he had someone driving around the airport with his stuff looking for him to give it to him. He never received all of his belongings.”
The lawsuit says Kuuir learned he had been “unenrolled” from classes he registered to take at NMSU in the fall of 2022 and “believes that members of the coaching staff who had assisted him with registration went online and took him out of his scheduled courses.”
“Kuir was not given the opportunity to oppose losing his place on the team or his scholarship,” the lawsuit states. “He was not allowed to transfer elsewhere because he had been on scholarship with NMSU and NMSU did little to help him become eligible elsewhere. He lost a year of collegiate play and his career lost momentum.”
Kuir did not play for NMSU in the 2022-2023 season. Kuir is expected to play for Alabama A&M in the 2024-2025 season.
The second lawsuit was filed on Aug. 26 by Martinez, Hart, Sanchez, & Romero P.C. on behalf of a member of the 2022-23 NMSU men’s basketball program. The plaintiff was labeled as a “John Doe 3”. NMSU Board of Regents is listed as the only defendant on the complaint.
The complaint does not make clear if “John Doe 3” was a player on the team. It says, “As a student at NMSU, John Doe 3 was also part of the varsity men’s basketball program.”
John Doe 3, a member of the men’s basketball program, “was required to be in the locker room and around players on the team.” the lawsuit says.
The complaint states “Throughout the fall of 2022, a group of NMSU players led by Kim Aiken, Doctor Bradley, and Deshawndre Washington, abused their positions of power and authority by forcibly subjecting other members of the program, including John Doe 3, to unwanted sexual assault and harassment.”
Aiken, Bradley, and Washington were charged with felony sex crimes after an investigation by the New Mexico Attorney General’s Office in Nov. 2023. All three pled not guilty and are set to face jury trial later this year.
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