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AMBRIDGE The father of a 14-year-old Ambridge Area High School student is suing the district for removing his son from the football team after a heated exchange with a teammate.

Antonio Fultzfiled the suit in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania on Aug. 6, claiming the Ambridge Area School District booted his special needs son from the high school football team after the boy engaged in a Snapchat argument with an alleged bully.

Fultz said his son, a freshman, played starting defensive tackle for the team beginning in April of this year. In June, he was chatting with weightlifting coaches on Snapchat when a sophomore teammate competing for the starting defensive tackle position sent the student a profanity-laced voice message calling him lazy.

The students had a history, according to the suit, with Fultzs son being bullied both emotionally and physically by the other student for years.

At one point, according to Fultz, the sophomore messaged his son You want to fight? I will kill you, to which his son responded with similar warnings. His son then sent an old photo of him holding a BB gun with the barrel pointed away and over his shoulder with no message attached. The back-and-forth altercation stopped there and was later seen by coaches.

A police investigation and school meetings were held following the exchange and, although no criminal charges were filed against either student, Fultzs son was kicked off the football team for the 2021-22school year. The other student would not be disciplined, he said.

Because Fultzs son is Black and the teammate is white, the man believes Ambridge Areas decision is discriminatory and punishes thestudent for out-of-school speech.

He also pointed to other instances where the sophomore threatened his son on Snapchat, at one point writing Anyone else have the urge to kill someone u hate at night.

The plaintiff is seeking damages in an amount to be decided at trial, and relief for the district's violations of the First Amendment and Fourteenth Amendments, including declaring the districts actions unconstitutional, reinstating his son to the team and expunging all references to the incident from the students records.

U.S. District Judge William Stickman last week denied the plaintiffs motion for a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction, arguing the students words were threats and fighting words outside the scope of the First Amendment and within the right of a school to regulate.

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Father suing Ambridge Area for sons removal from football team - The Times