On Friday, Tuskegee University basketball coach Benjy Taylor announced a $1 million lawsuit against Morehouse College.
The announcement of the lawsuit comes after Taylor was handcuffed following Tuskegee's loss to Morehouse College on January 31. Per a January report by HBCU Gameday, Taylor was attempting to get assistance in removing Morehouse College football players from the handshake line at the end of the game to prevent a physical altercation.
The Morehouse police officer identified in the lawsuit as R. Clark placed Taylor in handcuffs and escorted him off the court. The lawsuit also lists a second officer named M. Robinson, who assisted Clark in arresting Taylor. Although he was arrested following the incident, Taylor was not charged with a crime and ultimately was released from custody and departed Atlanta with his team.
The lawsuit text obtained by ESPN details the accusation.
“During the ceremonial handshake that followed the game between the two teams, Coach Taylor made a request to Officer Clark to remove unauthorized students from the ceremonial handshake line. In response, Officer Clark chose not to ensure the safety of the student athletes, coaches, and staff of Tuskegee University,” states the lawsuit, which was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia Atlanta Division. “Instead, Officer Clark handcuffed Coach Taylor in front of thousands of onlookers including Coach Taylor's family members and escorted him from the vicinity as if he were the most wanted individual in America. As a consequence of this reprehensible act and the miscarriage of justice directed at Coach Taylor, Coach Taylor has endured physical damages, emotional distress, and financial losses.”
Taylor's attorney, Harry Daniels, in a quote to ESPN, spoke about issues that Taylor dealt with following the arrest. He says that Taylor was taken to a local medical facility after suffering from high blood pressure due to trauma and also cited that the incident could hurt Taylor's professional career in the future.
“It's incumbent upon us as lawyers to rehabilitate his reputation because at the end of the day, Benjy Taylor's name is going to come across as the first coach to ever get arrested on a basketball court, paraded and walked off the court,” he said in a quote obtained by ESPN. “You Google his name right now. That's what's going to come up. Not that he's [the current conference coach of the year]. Not that he's a mentor of young men but he's someone who was unlawfully arrested and perp-walked.”
