SOUTHWEST MIAMI-DADE, FLA. (WSVN) - A lacrosse player at a Southwest Miami-Dade high school is taking legal steps to fight a one-year suspension from all athletics.
Luther Johnson V, who will be a senior at Christopher Columbus High School come August, said the suspension puts his Ivy League future in jeopardy.
“I’m not allowed to step on the field with my brothers,” he said during a news conference held Saturday.
The student athlete sports a 4.0 GPA.
“He’s an excellent student,” said a supporter of the teen. “I think I need to repeat that. He’s an excellent student.”
The teen, who also goes by LVJ, was suspended twice for two hits that referees calls “unsportsmanlike.”
“The officials felt the hit was so hard that they need to penalize him for a year by banning him,” said Rawsi Williams, his attorney.
Johnson was first suspended five weeks for a hit caught on video during a match with the team from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High.
But his mother, Antoinette Johnson, said he was set off in part by racial remarks during the match.
“The same individual had taunted my son throughout the game with the N-word and threatened to kill him,” she said.
Still, the teen apologized and returned to the field after serving the five-week suspension.
On his first day back, Johnson was again ejected for a play against Belen Jesuit Prep.
Because of that hit and the prior punishment, his family said, he was unjustly banned from all high school athletics for an entire year.
“The punishment was disproportionate to the play and was unwarranted,” said Williams.
LVJ’s supporters said they have questions about the play itself.
“What I saw in the play was an aggressive play, but I didn’t see anything that warranted the sanctions that were levied against him,” said Ruben Roberts with the NAACP.
Johnson’s senior year is a critical time for scholarships and college prospects. Johnson’s family said he has never been disciplined before, on or off the field, prior to this.
“He doesn’t deserve this punishment,” said a fellow student.
Johnson’s family has hired Williams because, they said, the punishment goes way too far.
“This is a physical contact sport. A physical contact sport, guess what will happen: physical contact,” said Williams.
The attorney shared video of what she said is a similar play made by two other lacrosse players who were not penalized as a result.
“Other students who are playing do not receive the same treatment or penalty as another kid on the field where it’s the same play, or much more severe play,” said Williams. “We want answers for that.”
Johnson said he’s sorry for the hits, but he has been a model student athlete his entire Columbus career. Now he hopes the Florida High School Athletic Association reconsiders the year-long suspension.
On Monday, officials will determine whether or not they will uphold his suspension.
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