Court bars four Mead High football players from playing against Mt. Spokane

Four Mead High School football players will not be allowed to play in Friday’s “Battle of the Bell” game against Mt. Spokane High, according to a court order filed Thursday.

Spokane County Superior Court Judge Annette Plese ordered the Mead School District to ban four players who allegedly assaulted a former teammate last year, an act that led to the victim’s transfer to Mt. Spokane, to attend or participate in the game at Union Stadium.

Marcus Sweetser, an attorney with the Sweetser Law Office in Spokane, is representing the Mt. Spokane and two other victims who Sweetser said were raped with a massage gun at consecutive Mead summer football camps.

The Spokane County District Attorney’s Office declined to prosecute the students on the serious misdemeanor charges they faced, instead sending them to a diversion program because they had no criminal records. However, complaints against the school district are pending.

The order says the family of player Mt. Spokane called for “safeguards” to ensure player safety at the game between the current and former schools.

It says the Mead School District refused to implement safeguards by allowing the boys to play in the game and that allowing the victim’s “bullies” to confront him at the upcoming football game will create an unsafe environment and cause further trauma (to the victim ). .”

“Protecting the welfare and safety of a sexual assault victim takes precedence over other considerations presented by defendant Mead School District,” Plese wrote.

The Connelly Law Firm, which has locations throughout Washington, is also representing two former Mead High School football players who claim they were threatened, assaulted and “racially harassed” for months following attacks during a football camp from 2023.

Four of the five players represented by the two law firms are black.

District spokesman Todd Zeidler said in a text message that the district does not comment on student disciplinary actions.