By Lisa King

A lawsuit was filed April 21 in Shelby Circuit Court in connection with the departure of three Collins High School students from the school’s football team last fall.

The suit was filed by Browning Becherer, former quarterback, and Edmund Becherer, father of Browning, Bennett and Jay Becherer, the latter two who were defensive backs for the Titans, and names as defendants Head Coach Jerry Lucas, the Shelby County Board of Education and Collins Principal John Leeper.

The suit claims that from August through October last year, Lucas engaged in outrageous conduct to the Becherers, including bullying, defamation and harassment.

The defamation, the suit says, stems from Lucas informing a Sentinel-News reporter that the students, along with his grandfather, Tom Becherer, defensive coordinator for the team who resigned the week the students left, were no longer associated with the team, and that his [Lucas] home had been vandalized.

Those comments were published in an article in The Sentinel-News.

The suit says that Lucas told the team and others that the students left the team voluntarily, but instead claims he had wrongfully dismissed them.

The document says that the board and Leeper also failed in their duties to investigate a bullying claim by Browning Becherer.

The defendants slandered the students by failing to issue their own statements about the incident after the article was published, said the suit.

“By their silence, the defendant, Shelby County Board of Education and Leeper, were complicit and ratified the defamatory statements of their employee, the defendant, Lucas,” the suit states.

The suit said Lucas’ actions were grossly negligent and have caused emotional harm, humiliation and embarrassment to the students, entitling them to compensatory and punitive damages from all parties named in the suit, as well as attorney’s fees, court costs and a jury trial.

Ryan Allan, spokesperson for Shelby County public Schools, said the board has not yet responded to the suit.

“It has been referred to the insurance company for defense. We will be responding in the near future,” he said.

Gregg Neal, attorney for the Becherers, said that as the suit is in the very stages, he has not heard anything from the plantiffs’ attorney. He added that the students are holding up under attending school in such an atmosphere.

“It’s not easy, for sure,” he said.