Black tennis player used as ‘target practice’ at Horry County high school, suit claims
HORRY COUNTY, S.C. (WBTW) — A Marion County mother has filed a federal lawsuit against Horry County Schools after her daughter withdrew from Green Sea Floyds High School over racial discrimination.
The lawsuit was filed March 16 in U.S. District Court in Florence by Crystal Dozier on behalf of her daughter, a Black student only identified as NC. It names Horry County Schools, the principal of the high school, the tennis coach and assistant principal as defendants.
The lawsuit claims that on July 28, 2023, the tennis coach posted an ad on Facebook for students to apply for the school’s team. NC was a former student of the coach, who is also an English teacher at the school.
Around that time period, NC messaged the coach about joining the team, but she refused to respond, the lawsuit said, which alleges the coach’s refusal was because of “racial animus” against African American students.
NC was not able to participate until Dozier intervened about two days later, according to the lawsuit. During the first week of practice, she was allowed to participate with all of the other players while the coach was out of town.
When the coach returned, NC was “immediately beset with racial discrimination,” according to the lawsuit. The coach allegedly allowed the other girls, who were all white, to use NC as “target practice” throughout each day’s practice.
Following a match in August, Dozier spoke with the coach to ask how NC could become a better player, to which the coach allegedly responded by laughing in her face before walking off. The lawsuit claims that was an example of the coach’s racial animus toward Dozier and her daughter.
Later that month, NC approached the coach to tell her that she felt she was discriminating against NC because of her race, the lawsuit said. The coach allegedly responded by berating her and rebuffing her concerns.
The coach told NC to come back later in the day for a meeting that included the assistant principal and an Indian student who had similar complaints, according to the lawsuit. NC again expressed concerns that the coach was racially discriminating against her, to which the coach allegedly got argumentative and berated her.
The assistant principal joined in, “immediately disregarding” NC’s concerns, according to the lawsuit. She allegedly “verbally assaulted” NC.
After the meeting, NC called Dozier to the school. During that, the assistant principal and principal approached her and cornered her in an office, the lawsuit claims. During the meeting, the principals “lied and defamed” NC by indicating she was aggressive and violent during their prior meeting.
The administrators attempted to stifle all complaints of racial discrimination, saying they do not see race at Green Sea Floyds High School, the lawsuit said.
On or about Aug. 28, NC quit the tennis team. That morning, Dozier approached the assistant principal to address the “defamatory” statements she made about NC, as she recorded the audio of the earlier meeting with her, the lawsuit claims.
The assistant principal then immediately admitted her deception and apologized, but it did not “ameliorate” the harm she had done, according to the lawsuit. Dozier then wrote a letter to Horry County Schools on Sept. 6 to complain about racial discrimination.
After Dozier’s letter, NC started being bullied at the school and reported her concerns to the assistant principal, the lawsuit claims. Instead of addressing NC’s concerns, she allegedly allowed the bullying to continue, resulting in both “physical and emotional” harm to the student.
According to the lawsuit, after Dozier’s letter, an investigator with the district looked into the allegations and ultimately came to the conclusion that there was bias, but that the coach “did not know any better.”
NC withdrew from the high school on Jan. 24, according to the lawsuit, which seeks a jury trial and an unspecified amount of actual and punitive damages against the principal, assistant principal and tennis coach.
News13 reached out to Horry County Schools for comment on Wednesday. As of this writing, we have not heard back.
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The full 11-page lawsuit is at the bottom of this story.
HCSDiscriminationLawsuitDownload
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Caleb is a digital producer at News13. Caleb joined the team in January 2023 after graduating from Liberty University. He is from Northern Virginia. Follow Caleb on X, formerly Twitter, and read more of his work here.
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