Hampton, Va. -- Hampton University basketball coaches, who last year were unlawfully detained and arrested while in Lubbock, Texas, have filed a civil action lawsuit against the City of Lubbock, Lubbock police officers, including the chief, and various staff members of the University Medical Center in Lubbock.
The case, filed April 19 in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas, Wichita Falls Division, names Hampton University women’s basketball head coach Patricia Bibbs and her husband Ezell, assistant coach Vanetta Kelso and Hampton University as plaintiffs. Cited as defendants are the City of Lubbock; police chief Ken Walker; police officers David Houser, Keith Jobe, Brian McNeill, R. Hearron and Mike Overland; and unknown employees of the Emergency Medical Services at University Medical Center, all in their individual capacities.
The plaintiffs cite the defendants for violating the following: their constitutional rights of equal protection, protection from unreasonable and illegal arrests, searches and seizures, and due process. The plaintiffs further declare that the Lubbock Police Department engaged in behavior that was racially discriminatory and constitutionally deficient for racial and other reasons when detaining them in November 1998. Further, Kelso, who is pregnant, states that she was humiliated, embarrassed and threatened by an EMS worker from the University Medical Center because she was vomiting.
The plaintiffs are suing for at least $30 million: $2.5 million in actual damages for each individual plaintiff for past and future loss of wages, medical expenses, pain and suffering, humiliation, emotional distress and mental anguish, and punitive or exemplary damages for all individual plaintiffs in an amount equal to three times the damages awarded to each. The plaintiffs also are seeking apologies from all defendants, court supervision of the Lubbock Police Department and the adoption of policies for hiring and promotion of police officers that the court deems non-discriminatory. The plaintiffs also seek the creation of a program that would provide for the proper training and discipline of police officers by the City of Lubbock.
On Nov. 16, 1998, the Bibbses and Kelso were detained by the Lubbock >police department for their alleged participation in a scam at a Lubbock Wal-Mart department store. The alleged victim in the scam recanted her story, saying she could not positively identify the coaches as those who committed a crime, and no charges were filed against the Bibbses or Kelso. The Lubbock Police Chief Ken Walker, on Nov. 19, 1998, said the case would not be sent to the District Attorney’s office; it was a case of mistaken identity. However, the Bibbses and Kelso detailed vivid descriptions of their poor treatment at the hands of the Lubbock police officers and emergency medical staff.
Hampton University’s women’s basketball team was in Lubbock to play Texas Tech on Nov. 17, 1998. The game was canceled.
On Nov. 20, 1998, Lubbock Mayor Windy Sitton flew to Hampton University and publicly apologized to the Bibbses, Kelso and the University. The plaintiffs have retained as counsel distinguished civil rights attorney Johnnie L. Cochran Jr.; Royce West and Gary Bledsoe, both of Texas; and Hampton University’s general counsel Faye Hardy Lucas.
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