Former Louisville defensive lineman Patrick Grant is suing the university and coach Charlie Strong for what he calls a cover-up following an attack in the locker room by teammates in 2010.
Grant alleged that two teammates, Jacob and Isaac Geffrad, attacked him in the locker room at Papa John’s Cardinal Stadium at 8:30 p.m. on Oct. 24, 2010. The lawsuit states Grant was beaten so badly by the two 18-year-old brothers that "he required immediate, urgent care and nearly lost his left eye, the bones around it being fractured."
According to the lawsuit: "His injuries to his left eye area were severe. Several of the bones surrounding it were broken and he was internally bruised. In other words, Patrick had sustained a 'blowout fracture' caused by a blunt trauma to the head. These are generally caused from personal altercations. His eye was bulging too. His treating physician was required to probe around the eyeball without any anesthesia in order to determine the extent of Patrick's injuries."
Grant said the team’s trainer asked him to lie about the incident and Grant told doctors that he was horsing around in the locker room when he ran into a locker door.
The injuries required surgery to remove bone fragments from his face and Grant received facial implants to rebuild his facial structure.
The Geffrad brothers were ultimately charged with assault and kicked off the team.
Because of the injuries allegedly sustained during alleged assault, Grant had to quit football. However, he said that because he agreed to the coverup, Strong promised to keep him on scholarship through the end of the 2011-12 school year so he could continue to pursue his education in criminal justice. However, the agreement was verbal. No written agreement was ever executed. Grant's scholarship was terminated on Jan. 4, 2012.
Grant’s suit claims Louisville breached the agreement and he’s suing to have his scholarship reinstated and compensatory damages for the wrongs against him.
Louisville has not issued a statement regarding the suit.
Basically, this is all Grant’s side of the story and he has no evidence to back it up. The players who assaulted him were disciplined and kicked off the team. As for a cover-up, he’s going to have a hard time proving that he was coerced into lying about what really happened. The scholarship agreement he allegedly made with Strong was never in writing. So basically, it’s Grant’s word against the team trainer and Strong.
It’s too bad that this happened to Grant, but it’s going to be tough for him to win this case without any actual proof or witnesses.
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