Antelope Valley College Faces Suit Over Basketball Injury

Erika Miller, a former junior college women’s basketball player is seeking $1 million in damages from Antelope Valley College, its women’s basketball coach and a former Antelope Valley player, claiming she suffered a career-ending injury in a game against the Marauders.

Miller, 20, who averaged 12.3 points a game last season for Golden West College in Huntington Beach, has filed the suit that names Antelope Valley Coach Jackie Lott and Niani Dunn, the former player.

The suit stems from a game Feb. 24 in the junior college playoffs. As Miller attempted a breakaway layup, she was shoved from behind and slammed into a wall behind the basket.

Miller suffered a dislocated left elbow, an injury which allegedly ended her career. Dunn was assessed a flagrant foul and ejected from the game.

Legal action, even criminal prosecution, for deliberate acts of violence in sports is not unprecedented.

In 1988, Dino Ciccarelli of the Minnesota North Stars was sentenced to a day in jail for striking Luke Richardson of the Toronto Maple Leafs on the head twice with a hockey stick.

In addition, Dwight Angelini, a member of the Harvard-Westlake High soccer team last season, was arrested and later charged with felony assault after he kicked Ryan Herrera of Notre Dame on the head during a match last February. Angelini was sentenced to six months probation and 40 hours of community service.

The Herrera family has filed suit against Harvard-Westlake.

In Miller’s case, officials did not call the police, but then-Athletic Director Tom Hermstad fired off a letter to his counterpart at Antelope Valley to ask whether any action had been taken against Dunn and Lott.

Tom Brandige, vice president of Antelope Valley Community College, declined on Monday to discuss the lawsuit or the contents of Hermstad’s letter. The school also did not reply to Hermstad’s correspondence, it said, because of the potential for litigation.

Dunn and Lott could not be reached for comment.

Richard Stricklin, the Rustlers’ basketball coach, said the foul probably cost Golden West the state championship because the team lost Miller, a three-point specialist.

Miller’s attorney, Susan Cameron Kelley of Huntington Beach, said her client’s damage claim was routinely denied by the Antelope Valley School District last year. Kelley said she was almost certain that Miller would prevail in her lawsuit, noting that she had obtained a videotape showing the incident.

“That foul was battery,” Kelley said. “It’s not what people agree to do when they step on a basketball court.”