Former College Football Player Sues Ex-Teammate, Coaches For Abuse

A former football player at Troy University has filed a lawsuit against one of his former teammates and three coaches for a pattern of homophobic abuse that eventually led to a sexual assault involving a pool cue. https://twitter.com/aldotcom/status/1561831831976157190 From AL.com:

The 29-page federal lawsuit, filed on July 25 in U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Alabama, names three Troy football coaches who plaintiff John Haynes said did nothing to stop a teammate bullying him.

Haynes, a walk-on kicker at Troy during the 2020 football season, names Jack Dawson, a punter and Haynes’ suite mate, as the person responsible for “verbal harassment, which included sexual statements and homophobic slurs,” as well as “molestation and violence.”

On Oct. 24, 2020, the suit claims, Haynes was laying on his stomach on the floor of the players’ lounge, watching a football game on his phone, when he “felt excruciating pain in his anus.”

“Dawson had snuck up behind him with a pool cue and shoved the point of it up into his anus,” the suit reads. “Later, John opened the snapchat message and saw it was a video of Dawson shoving the pool cue into his anus as others watched and laughed.”

According to the lawsuit, Haynes says he suffered from rectal bleeding for several months and still feels pain. That’s not even all of it. Read the full report here. https://twitter.com/SInow/status/1562190483849629696 Related: Out Former College Athlete More ‘At Peace’ Since Leaving Football