SOUTHWEST MIAMI-DADE, FLA. (WSVN) - The attorney for a high-school lacrosse player that was suspended for rough hits during games has filed a motion to try and get him back onto the field.
Rawsi Williams, the attorney of Luther Johnson V, said on Friday that she is filing a request for a restraining order to keep the Florida High School Athletic Association from enforcing the suspension.
“If that order is granted, our motion is granted, that means he gets to go out there and play,” Williams said. “Those items are necessary to stop the board’s actions in its tracks, so that Luther can play while the lawsuit is determined.”
Johnson was suspended for unsportsmanlike conduct in the first game of lacrosse he played last season for Christopher Columbus High School.
In the second game, he was accused of targeting. After that, the FHSAA suspended him from sports for the entire year.
The ruling was challenged and later changed, which will keep him from playing football his senior year and only allows him to play the second half of the lacrosse season for his senior year.
Christopher Columbus High School coach David Dunn said Johnson’s suspension would take a toll on his family if it’s not overturned.
“Him not being able to play his senior year, that would be devastating to him and his family,” Dunn said.
Williams said Johnson has maintained a 4.0 GPA in school and has never been in trouble.
“That’s my future,” Johnson said. “My college future for playing sports, if I want to play sports. I don’t have to play sports, but that’s something that I love to do. Playing sports is one love that I have, and I just don’t want to stop over a decision that people make, and I can’t make. I’m just ready to get back on that field.”
His parents hope the community will rally behind him and contact state leaders and the FHSAA.
“I’d ask that they overturn the suspension. He’s worth saving, ” Antoinette Johnson, his mother, said.
“If this was supposed to be his year, they took this away from him,” Luther Johnson IV, his father, said.
Williams added she is also filing suit to try and get the suspension overturned altogether.
Williams said she is expecting a hearing in the next several weeks regarding the restraining order she is seeking.
7News has reached out to the FHSAA for comment, but they have yet to respond.
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