Tuskegee basketball coach who was handcuffed by police after game files $1m lawsuit

Tuskegee men’s basketball coach Benjy Taylor filed a lawsuit against Morehouse College and two campus police officers on Friday, claiming he suffered emotional and physical harm when he was handcuffed and escorted off the court on 31 January.

“He has suffered financial harm, reputational harm, emotional harm as well as physical damages,” Harry Daniels, one of Taylor’s attorneys, told the Associated Press.

Daniels said the lawsuit asks for damages of more than $1m.

According to the lawsuit, which names campus police officers R Clark and M Roberson, members of the Morehouse football team were at the baseline taunting the Tuskegee players during the game. Taylor was concerned the situation would escalate and asked one of the officers for the players to be removed.

The lawsuit claims Clark instead stood by the football players and turned his back while the insults continued. The lawsuit claims Taylor was handcuffed and detained when he insisted the officers enforce security protocols for the postgame handshake line mandated by the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference. Morehouse won the game 77-69.

Taylor was not charged.

After reviewing the incident, the SIAC fined Morehouse and issued a statement saying: “In accordance with SIAC policy 1.9 security, the conference determined that Morehouse College did not satisfy the required security standards for a host institution, specifically as it relates to crowd control and ensuring the safe entry and exit of visiting teams and game participants. As a result, the SIAC has imposed a fine on Morehouse College of an undisclosed amount and will require corrective measures to ensure full compliance with conference security policies moving forward.”

Despite the action from the SIAC, Daniels said Taylor “has suffered significant damage” and deserves compensation. He said Taylor has suffered “stress, elevated blood pressure, hair loss and also reputational harm. This is going to be the stigma surrounding him the rest of his career like a scarlet letter.”

Daniels said the detainment also “significantly diminished his ability to earn an income for his family”.

Taylor has coached at Tuskegee since 2019. Morehouse College did not immediately respond to a request for a comment on the lawsuit.