A former California high school football star has filed a sweeping federal lawsuit accusing his coaches of years ofabuse, racial harassment and retaliationthat he claims destroyed his athletic career.
Riley Cochran-Hernandez, a former player at Del Campo High School, is suing the San Juan Unified School District in Sacramento County and ex-coaches Jeff Remington and Matt Costa,KCRA3 reported.
He claims he was subjected to repeated racial and national-origin harassment, withthe N-word used toward studentsand threats to report them to ICE.
The complaint, spanning more than 20 pages and filed last week, outlines what it describes as a prolonged pattern of misconduct that created a hostile and unsafe environment for student-athletes.
Cochran-Hernandez said: “I think they took a lot more than a future. They took a child’s dream. I went through a lot. And to be honest, I don’t think anybody should go through what I went through.”
Football had once been central to his life, he said, with aspirations of playing at the collegiate level, including hopes of suiting up for theUniversity of Michigan.
The two coaches named in the complaint are Remington and Costa, both of whom served as head coaches during Cochran-Hernandez’s time at Del Campo.
“Coach Remington was telling us to report people to ICE for bounties, and we’re all kind of just like, what has this got to do with football?” Cochran-Hernandez said.
The complaint also details physically demanding and, at times, dangerous training conditions.
Players were allegedly required to perform grueling drills such as bear crawls in extreme heat —sometimes exceeding 100 degrees — while access to water was tightly controlled regardless of weather.
Source: California Post – Breaking California News, Photos & Videos
