PITTSBURGH - A bi-racial high school student has filed a lawsuit that alleges racism led her coach to benching her at a championship track meet.
A student known as K.M. filed suit against Brownsville Area School District on Sept. 26 in federal court after disappointment at the 2022 Western Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic League track and field championships in May.
She says coach Chad Gaster told her she wouldn't take her normal spot on the 4x100 relay team because of her shin splints.
"Plaintiff K.M. has not been instructed by a doctor to refrain from running," the suit says. "Other members of the Defendant's track and field team, including Caucasian individuals, also experience pain in their legs after running and/or have 'shin splints.'"
When another coach backed the benching and said K.M. would serve as a backup for a different event, her mother took her to a chiropractor. The next day, she was not allowed to participate in her event because she did not practice the previous day, the suit says.
"Plaintiff K.M. believes, and therefore avers, that she was removed from the 4x100 meters relay because of her race, African-American and Caucasian," the suit says.
Joel Sansone represents the plaintiff.