A second Federal Court lawsuit has been filed against the Hamilton County Schools and Ooltewah High School officials over the incident in Gatlinburg in which three older Ooltewah basketball players put a pool cue to the rectum of several freshman players.
The suit, filed in behalf of one of the students who was "hazed" at a rental cabin just before Christmas last year, asks unspecified damages. His parents are also plaintiffs. All are listed with false names to protect the child's identity, the suit says.
Defendants include former OHS principal Jim Jarvis, former coach Andre Montgomery, former athletic director Jesse Nayadley and county schools Title IX coordinator Marsha Drake.
The suit, filed by Chattanooga Justin Gilbert and Eric Oliver, says freshmen on the team "were expected to endure unannounced physical and emotional abuse."
This included "racking" in which lights were turned off in the locker room and the young players had to run a gauntlet, it was stated.
It says that Montgomery would frequently come in when the rackings were going on, flip on the lights and tell the older players to stop it. But it says he did not bring an end to the rackings.
The suit says Montgomery left the players unattended while he went grocery shopping. It says while he was gone one player was thrown in a hot tub. It says the boy who filed suit locked himself in a bathroom. However, he was also thrown in the hot tub when he emerged.
The boy said later in the weekend he was grabbed by the older players and a pool cue was forcibly placed between his buttocks. He screamed and grabbed the pool cue to stop it from being inserted further, the suit says.
Two other freshmen were attacked the same way, it was stated. Then the freshman who wound up in the hospital with serious injuries was attacked.
The team was allowed to keep playing its game in a tournament, reflecting "grave indifference to the sexual assaults," the suit says.
The complaint says the school system did not reach out and provide support to the victims and their families.