Pair of former New Mexico State gamers file lawsuit detailing hazing allegations inside program

A pair of former New Mexico State basketball gamers filed a lawsuit Wednesday centered round hazing allegations that abruptly and prematurely ended the group’s 2022-23 season. Named within the go well with filed by William “Deuce” Benjamin and Shakiru Odunewu, together with Benjamin’s father, are the college’s board of regents, former coach Greg Heiar, former assistant Dominique Taylor and three different former gamers accused of hazing and sexual assault. 

Included within the 28-page submitting, obtained by KTSM-TV, are detailed allegations of hazing tradition with Kim Aiken Jr., Physician Bradley and DeShawndre Washington named because the defendants.

In a single alleged incident, Washington grabbed Benjamin’s scrotum in a resort room in entrance of a bunch of girls. One other allegation claims Aiken and Bradley ripped again a bathe curtain on Odunewu and compelled him to do squats whereas slapping his buttocks and videotaping the encounter. In one more allegation, Odunewu says he was attacked and sodomized by the defendants throughout November bus journey to a highway sport. 

The entire aforementioned gamers have entered the switch portal, as has practically the whole lot of the Aggies roster. Heiar was fired in mid-February, and former Sam Houston State coach Jason Hooten has began the method of rebuilding the roster after being employed away from Sam Houston State in March. 

Benjamin tweeted Tuesday that Hooten knowledgeable him not too long ago that “it might be in my greatest curiosity to proceed my schooling and basketball profession elsewhere.” The Las Cruces, New Mexico, native added that he grew up a New Mexico State fan and have become a ball boy for this system in center college, which is when he knew he needed to turn out to be a participant for this system.

“Because of the actions of others (which I can’t go into right here) that dream become a nightmare,” Benjamin wrote.

Along with the hazing allegations, New Mexico State additionally handled an off-court disaster in November when Aggies group member Mike Peake was hospitalized after a capturing on New Mexico’s campus within the early morning hours earlier than the in-state rivals have been scheduled to play. Peake was suspended for his function within the incident, which left a New Mexico pupil useless.

Simply over a yr in the past, NMSU reached the second spherical of the NCAA Event after successful the WAC common season and convention titles. These accomplishments got here underneath coach Chris Jans, who left for Mississippi State after the 2021-22 season. Heiar was employed as Jans’ alternative after a stint at Northwest Florida State.