Family sues Mead School District over alleged assault of student-athlete

SPOKANE COUNTY, Wash. -- The parents of a teen are suing the Mead School District, superintendent, and football coach alleging the district did not protect their child from an assault while at a football training camp.

According to the complaint, the student was a Mead High School sophomore at an overnight summer football camp in June of 2023 hosted at Eastern Washington University.

The complaint says older students held the boy down and used a massage gun to sexually assault the teen as part of a ritualistic hazing practice known as "the sacrifice." The court docs say that student was just one of many assaulted over multiple years at the camp.

According to the documents, one of the alleged victims reported to a coach he was afraid his teammates would "rape" him, but the coaches did not intervene.

The documents also say some of the assaults were racially motivated including older white students calling younger black students the n-word and "monkeys."

The complaint says multiple other students filmed these attacks on cell phones and those videos were shared on social media.

The court documents say in November 2023, a mother confronted Head Coach Keith Stamps about the videos and assaults and Stamps did not report the confrontation until the following month.

In the complaint, the defendants are accused of learning about these assaults, not following state laws or policies for reporting, and not telling the students' parents. In addition, the complaint accuses district employees of downplaying the incidents calling it "roughhousing" and "boys being boys."

The court documents say the trauma of the incident forced the teen to transfer out of Mead High School.

According to the Spokane County Prosecutor's Office, the Spokane County Sheriff's Office recommended that all five players be charged with 4th degree assault which is a gross misdemeanor.

But, since they were minors and had no criminal history, the prosecutor's office was instead required to refer them to a diversion program, under Washington State law.

The teens had the option to decline the diversion program and instead face charges. As of publication, the prosecutor's office says they have not received any notice of the teens declining the diversion program referral.

Others named in the lawsuit include District Superintendent Travis Hanson, Mead High School Principal Kimberly Jensen, former District Athletic Director John Barrington, Head Football Coach Keith Stamps, and assistant coaches Jared Thomas and Gunner Drew.

You can read the full complaint below.

4 News Now has redacted the names of juveniles to protect their identities.

In previous reporting , 4 News Now learned the Mead School District investigation prior to the lawsuit. You can read more about that below.

RELATED: Hazing, bullying, sexual assault?: Mead HS releases investigation into football players targeting teammates

The Mead School District said in a statement "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 the matter publicly."

COPYRIGHT 2024 BY KXLY. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. THIS MATERIAL MAY NOT BE PUBLISHED, BROADCAST, REWRITTEN OR REDISTRIBUTED.