Two Mead High football players allege assaults, racial bullying following last year’s camp incidents

Two Mead High School students say they were threatened, assaulted and “racially bullied” for months following football player assaults that Mead School District mishandled, according to tort claims filed on behalf of the students and their families.

The incidents stem from June 2023, when a group of Mead High football players restrained two teammates and applied a “massage gun” to their private parts at a football camp at Eastern Washington University, according to an investigation by the district.

“The camp had a history of racial harassment, assaults, and intolerance being perpetrated against students of color, while coaches and administrators turned a blind eye,” according to the claims filed by Connelly Law Offices, which has offices in Seattle, Tacoma and soon in Spokane.

District spokesman Todd Zeidler said in a text message that the district received the two tort claims from Connelly.

“As with previous claims received, we take these matters seriously,” Zeidler wrote. “The Mead School District does not comment on pending litigation or open legal matters.”

The claims say the bullying left the two students with severe problems, including depression, isolation, a drop in academic grades and suicidal ideations.

Marcus Sweetser, trial attorney at Sweetser Law Office in Spokane, is representing two victims who were assaulted at last June’s camp and another who was reportedly assaulted at the 2022 camp. He said all three were violated with a massage gun and that he’s preparing to file a formal complaint soon.

Connelly Law Offices’ claims allege a group of white upperclassmen targeted three younger Black players at the camp, including two players the office is representing. Four of the five players represented by the two law offices are Black.

During the June 2023 assaults, one of Connelly’s clients pushed his way into the EWU dorm room where the players were staying for camp, but was outnumbered and “too scared” to intervene, the claims say. Two players who committed the first assault then turned to one of Connelly’s clients and said he and the other client were “next.”

One of the clients locked himself in his room “fearing and expecting an attack,” according to the claims.

Head football coach Keith Stamps spoke in July with some of the involved players about last June’s assaults. But Stamps and John Barrington, Mead athletic director who has since retired, did not contact parents of the involved athletes, nor did they inform Mead administrators about the email and video footage of the incident, according to the school district investigation.

Sweetser and Connelly took issue with the several-month period that elapsed from the time a parent notified Mead officials about the alleged assaults to when parents were notified of the camp incidents.

“These Black players, who became victims of daily abuse, all understood the coaches knew about the assaults yet did nothing,” the claims say. “To them, the coach’s inaction sanctioned what happened. There was no protection from the coaches; they were on their own.”

Several Mead High students staged a walkout last month over what they said was a lack of transparency from the school district. The walkout was hours before a football players and parents meeting where the district intended to “help give clarity” and “put a few rumors to rest” at the meeting, according to the district.

“Details about what happened at team camp came in bits and pieces over an inordinately long period of time, and ultimately, the severity of what took place last summer was fully realized at a time months removed from the actual incidents,” according to a May 1 letter to Mead parents from district officials.

Mead High School’s resource Deputy Mitchell Othmer submitted in March gross misdemeanor fourth-degree assault charges related to last year’s assaults for five students to the Spokane County Prosecutor’s Office, according to an email from Othmer to EWU Police Det. Robert Schmitter.

Spokane County Deputy Prosecutor Shane Smith said the prosecutor’s office did not charge the defendants with assault.

Instead, per state law, they were referred to a diversion program because they had no criminal history and the charge was a gross misdemeanor, Smith said. A diversion agreement is outside the criminal justice system and may require the defendants to perform community service, counseling and/or other similar options.

In the months following last summer’s assaults, the two Connelly clients and one of Sweetser’s clients endured intimidation and “routine racial slurs,” including the N-word and vulgar racial stereotypes, because the Mead football coaches did not take appropriate action, the claims say. One of the clients was “shoulder-checked” in the school hallway.

In November, one of the Connelly clients was in the locker room when an assailant from the camp assaults tried to “sexually humiliate” the client by placing his penis on the client’s head, the claims allege.

The other Connelly client reportedly shared a text message with Mead staff where a white student demanded – using the N-word – the client turn over a video of one of the June assaults so they could delete incriminating evidence.

The claims say Mead staff took no action and didn’t develop a safety plan for the two clients. Staff also did not direct the two clients to complete an incident reporting form, per Mead policy, the claims say.

“Following the June assaults, and as a direct result of Mead’s lack of response to the known assaults and racial hostilities, the perpetrators were emboldened and allowed to engage in intense racial discrimination, harassment, and bullying,” the claims say.

Sweetser said all three of his clients transferred to other schools.

Connelly’s two clients withdrew from in-person classes at Mead High School while the “perpetrators” all remain, the Connelly claims say. It says the two clients are “deeply-scarred and undergoing professional counseling.”

“By that juncture, the kids were all suffering severe mental-health consequences,” the claims allege.

Mead issued an athletic suspension to one of the Connelly clients without warning, a chance to defend himself or an explanation for why he was suspended, the claims say. The letter stated the client was being suspended for “participation in events” at the June camp.

The claims allege the school district was negligent and in violation of state and federal law by failing to protect the students.

“Although the families are still grappling with the extent of damages, Mead is likely to have caused $5 million in damages to each minor, as well as $2 million in derivative loss of consortium,” according to the claims.