Former wrestler sues school district over MMA fighting at school

Things were quiet in the Blue Springs High School wrestling room Thursday, a day after news circulated that a former wrestler is suing the school district for injuries stemming from a mixed martial arts-style fight under the supervision of an assistant coach.

Wrestlers were given the day off from conditioning drills Thursday, and only an assistant coach was seen putting the final touches on the purple floor mat for the upcoming season.

Samuel Gomez, a junior and former member of the wrestling team at Blue Springs, filed the lawsuit that seeks damages in excess of $25,000 against the school district. According to the lawsuit, around Oct. 1, 2008, a preseason workout was canceled, but some wrestlers remained in the practice room. One team member pulled out MMA-style sparring gloves while another young man shot video footage of wrestlers partaking in an MMA fight.

According to Dan Baylard, the Gomez family’s attorney, a Blue Springs assistant wrestling coach, James Williamson, watched and cheered. Mixed martial arts fighting is a full contact combat sport that combines boxing, wrestling and martial arts.

During his fight, Gomez suffered two broken teeth, and another tooth was knocked out. Later that night, Gomez spent two hours in a dentist’s chair, had a rod placed in his mouth and later needed two root-canal surgeries that cost more than $7,000. Gomez’s family expects to spend at least $20,000 more on future surgeries.

The lawsuit names Williamson, head wrestling coach Mike Hagerty, known as “Hag” to his athletes, activities director Tom Round, principal Dave Adams and superintendent Paul Kinder as defendants.

Efforts to speak with the defendants Thursday at the school district office and at Blue Springs High School were unsuccessful. Many of them were said to be in meetings and did not return phone messages. Leslie Evans, who handles public relations for the Blue Springs school district, said there will be no comment.

“Because it is a legal matter, we’re not at liberty to discuss (it),” Evans said. “That’s probably all you’re going to get from district folks.”

The lawsuit alleges that the Blue Springs wrestling program promoted extreme fighting and created Wildcat (school’s mascot) wrestling T-shirts that featured the Ultimate Fighting Championship emblem. Also, the school once employed a wrestling assistant coach, Matt Cox, who has since started a career as an MMA fighter.

Furthermore, Baylard contends that it is the Gomez family’s belief that MMA-style fighting had been going on at least a year before the October 2008 incident.

“The principal did something to stop that,” Baylard said. “Obviously, it didn’t work.”

In the aftermath of Gomez’s fight, Baylard said that the Gomez family confronted Hagerty and also exchanged e-mails regarding the matter. The family sought an incident report to be written about the brawl. Initially, according to Baylard, their demand was rebuffed. Baylard said Hagerty told the father if an incident report was written, it would be categorized as “fighting” and Gomez could be expelled from the high school.

“I think the entire family definitely viewed that as a threat,” Baylard said.

Although Baylard said the incident report was eventually written, as months passed by school administrators failed to address the situation to the family’s satisfaction and refused to pay dental bills.

“The school essentially refused to take this matter seriously, even when the school was provided that video,” Baylard said. “There was plenty of opportunity for the school to accept responsibility.”

submitted by CANDACE BUCKNER - 2009-10-08 23:10:01

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