Ohio teen allegedly forced by coaches to eat pork is suing school district
The family of a former Ohio high school football player is suing the student’s coaches and school district following an incident over the summer in which the student was allegedly forced to violate his religious beliefs by consuming pork.
The student, who is a Hebrew Israelite, was forced by his football coaches at McKinley High School in Canton, Ohio to eat an entire pizza with pepperoni on it as punishment for missing a workout, his family said in June.
Consumption of pork is forbidden under Judaism’s kosher laws and the Hebrew Israelite faith.
The coaches reportedly removed the pepperoni pieces, but the pork residue remained. They threatened to remove the student from the team if he did not eat the pizza as instructed, according to a lawsuit filed by the student’s parents late last month in the Ohio Northern District Court.
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To remain on the team, the student, referred to as K.W. in the lawsuit against the Canton City School District, its board, and the football coaches involved in the incident, eventually complied.
According to the lawsuit, the coaches’ “antisemitic and shameful” actions caused K.W., now 18, “substantial permanent injury.”
Seven of the school’s coaches were fired in June following an investigation, and K.W. transferred to another school and football program more than 100 miles from Canton over concerns for his safety, the lawsuit says.
According to the lawsuit, K.W. and his family are seeking $3 million in compensation and $1 million in punitive damages in a jury trial, alleging violations of K.W.’s First and 14th Amendment rights.
In a statement to the Washington Post, Peter Pattakos, an attorney for most of the former coaches, said his clients are the “real victims in this matter” and K.W. and his family’s account of the incident is untrue.
Pattakos filed a defamation suit against the family, their lawyer, and the district officials who “wrongly terminated” the coaches in July.
According to the defamation case, K.W. in the weeks leading up to the incident had been “demonstrating subpar effort in team exercises and drills and displaying continued disrespect” to his teammates and coaches.
After refusing to make up for a missed weight training session, Marcus Wattley, McKinley High School’s former head football coach, had K.W. eat the pizza while his teammates worked out to show him that “it’s easy to be selfish behind people’s backs, but not so easy when others are watching,” according to the suit.
Wattley and the rest of the coaches were then thanked by K.W. for the lesson after he had eaten the pizza, the defamation suit says.
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