A lawsuit alleging the Kingfisher High School football program practices and promotes a culture of hazing and abuse will now be decided in federal court after the school ’s attorney filed to move it to that venue.

Initially filed in July in Kingfisher County District Court by Oklahoma City attorney Cameron Spradling on behalf of a plaintiff listed as “John Doe No. 1,” the case has lain dormant until last month when District Judge Paul Woodward granted the plaintiff’s motion to proceed under the pseudonym.

In addition to the school district, the lawsuit names head coach Jeff Myers, assistant coach Derek Patterson and former assistant coaches Blake Eaton and Micah Nall as defendants.

An amended petition filed Jan. 12 includes graphic descriptions of alleged incidents of abuse against the plaintiff, identified only as a 2021 KHS graduate whose tenure on the football team extended from the fall of 2017 through the fall of 2020.

The defendants know the identity of the plaintiff, but his name won’t be used in court filings, according to Woodward’s ruling. The federal court has the same discretion to allow the plaintiff to remain anonymous due to his age at the time the alleged offenses occurred.

The lawsuit alleges several violations of federal laws by the school district and named coaches as well as state law claims of gross negligence and intentional infliction of emotional distress against the coaches only.

The federal claims provided a basis for Tulsa attorney John Priddy to file to remove the case to federal court for the Western District of Oklahoma, where it will now be litigated before federal District Judge Charles Goodwin.

The lawsuit alleges the plaintiff suffered abuse at the hands of the coaches and some of his teammates, identified only as “the offending players,” which amounted to acts of “bullying, hazing and sexual harrassment” as defined by the school handbook.

The amended petition includes an extensive list of allegations from “dangerous practice drills” to bullying and physical assaults off the field that were allegedly condoned and at times encouraged by the named coaches.

The lawsuit includes a picture of bruises allegedly sustained by the plaintiff during daily locker room floggings by upperclassmen that were allegedly shown by the plaintiff’s father to Myers, the former KPS superintendent and the former athletic director.

The amended petition also alleges the plaintiff was assaulted by upperclassmen at various times with stun guns and paintball guns and threatened with an air rifle at point blank range in the locker room.

The lawsuit also alleges that the plaintiff’s father telephoned or met with the coaching staff and other school officials on a number of occasions but no action was taken.

Kingfisher Public School Superintendent Dr. Daniel Craig, whose employment began after the alleged incidents, confirmed that John Priddy of the Tulsa law firm of Rosenstein, Fist and Ringold, is representing all the defendants.

The Times & Free Press reached out to Priddy for comment but he had not responded as of press time Tuesday.