Three former players file lawsuit …

NEW YORK
New York Daily News

Three former players file lawsuit against Riverside Church for failing to protect them from alleged sexual predator Ernest Lorch

By Michael O’Keeffe / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Published: Thursday, December 20, 2012

Ernest Lorch may be dead, but the legal battles sparked by allegations that he sexually abused his players live on.

Riverside Church officials knew or should have known that the founder of its prestigious basketball program was a sexual predator who abused children, a lawsuit filed on Thursday in Manhattan federal court claims.

The suit, filed by three former players who say Lorch assaulted them on the church’s Morningside Heights campus and during team trips, alleges that church officials failed to properly supervise the Riverside Hawks founder, who died in May.

Lorch’s estate is also named as a defendant in the case.

The suit, filed by Byron Walker, Michael McDuffen and Sean McCray, says Riverside officials violated Title IX, the 1972 federal law best known for enforcing equality for women in collegiate sports. Title IX prohibits education programs that receive federal aid from engaging in sexual abuse and harassment. The suit, which also claims Lorch and the church violated the men’s civil rights, seeks unspecified damages.

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