Family sues Valparaiso High School after son seriously injured during off-season football drill
A Northwest Indiana man has filed a lawsuit against Valparaiso High School, the Valparaiso Community Schools district, and the City of Valparaiso, after his 15-year-old son was seriously injured during an off-season football drill.
Jason Solomon filed the negligence lawsuit on behalf of his son, Malakai, who was left with a concussion, a broken wrist, and an injured neck when he was hit during practice last month. The team was not supposed to be running full-contact drills, and no helmets were worn.
According to the lawsuit filed in Porter County, Indiana, Malakai "was forcefully pushed to the ground with excessive and unreasonable force by two other football players, contrary to the nature of the drill and accepted safety practices."
"As a result of this excessive force, [Malakai] was thrown backward, causing him to land violently and suffer severe injuries," the lawsuit adds.
The family's attorneys claim coaches failed to properly supervise the drill and enforce safety rules in order to protect players from harm, and failed to act once Malakai was injured.
"Defendants' employees, agents, and/or coaches knew or should have known that allowing players to engage in forceful physical contact against younger players in a non-contact drill without proper supervision could create a reasonable risk of unnecessary harmful contact and resulting injury," the lawsuit states.
Malakai's father has said he was only aware that light contact drills were supposed to be happening that day.
"Two kids, you know, really hit him hard, and he kind of went flying. There was no pads, no shoulder, you know, nothing, no helmet. and he braced his fall with his right wrist, and then, his head hit the ground, which is concrete with, with, like, a little bit of, padding," he said.
The lawsuit claims, after Malakai was injured, he was forced to call his father to get medical attention, including transportation to the hospital.
Malakai's father has said Malakai couldn't walk straight and was slurring words, but managed to text him. He rushed to the school and then rushed his son to the hospital, where they performed an emergency CT scan.
Since the injury, Malakai's father has said he was forced to pull his son out of school after he received threats of violence from other kids.
"Even as far as this morning, he got a message stating that, when you come back, the football team's looking to, you know, jump you," he said one week after the injury. "I just do not feel safe to have my son in that school."
The lawsuit seeks unspecified damages.
