Shot players suing
Everhart named in Duquesne case
Despite his thin frame, Shawn James had established himself as one of the nation's top shot blockers in two years at Northeastern. In 2006, he followed his coach, Ron Everhart, to Duquesne, but before he got to play a game, he and four other members of the basketball team were shot after a party at the student union.
James was hit in the foot. Stuard Baldonado was wounded in the arm and back. Kojo Mensah was shot in the arm and shoulder.
Baldonado filed a lawsuit against the school in April 2008 claiming that Duquesne didn't provide adequate security at the party and that the shooting ruined whatever chance he had at making NBA money.
With just three days to go before this year's NBA draft, and their chances of being selected slim, James and Mensah decided to do the same thing, filing separate suits against the university for negligent handling of the September 2006 party.
"Basically, because of them being gunned down on campus, their NBA hopes were dashed," said Teresa Toriseva, the lawyer representing both players. "Their basketball career was derailed and they've been damaged to the tune of millions of dollars."
According to Toriseva, James was considered by many to be a mid-first-round pick.
"Now, by all accounts, he's projected to probably not even be drafted," she said.
Kansas State coach Frank Martin, who recruited James when he was an assistant at NU, said he thought the 6-foot-10-inch, 225-pound center had NBA potential based on his shot-blocking ability alone.
But the factors that had him low on many boards going into the draft were many - from his slight frame, to a subpar season at Duquesne in 2007-08, to an unimpressive performance at a predraft camp in Chicago. "There's no way you can get hit with two bullets and walk around like nothing happened," Martin said. "That's got to affect you physically and mentally, and from what I understand, it kind of affected him mentally a lot more than physically and it was just hard for him to get back on that trail that he needed to be on to get better."
James and Mensah also name Everhart in their lawsuits for forcing them to practice before they were ready.
"Coach Everhart's conduct exacerbated their injuries," Toriseva said.
Though the lawsuit comes so close to the draft, Toriseva called the timing coincidental.
Rick Bode, an attorney for the university, said, "Duquesne is one of the safest universities in the country. We had no notice of these criminal acts by these two fellows that went to the dance. And we have every confidence that, when this is all decided, that our position will be upheld."
