Tuskegee University coach Benjy Taylor is considering a civil lawsuit after he was handcuffed and taken off the court by police officers after a basketball game on Saturday.
Taylor reportedly asked officers to enforce on court security for his players, which culminated in him being escorted out. Taylor spoke out about how he felt “violated” during the incident.
Why was Benjy Taylor handcuffed and escorted off the court by police?
Tuskegee played against Morehouse College on Saturday, which resulted in a 77-69 for the Golden Tigers. Taylor had a brief exchange with a police officer before it escalated and the officer handcuffed him. CBS Sports reported that the coach was reportdly escorted into the hallway of the gym and into a room labeled “Weightroom.”
It is currently unclear why Taylor was handcuffed, escorted off the court and taken into the room. He was not charged with a crime and was released to travel back with the team.
After the game, a group of Morehouse football players mingled with the basketball teams, according to Tuskegee athletic director Reginald Ruffin. Taylor went up to the security officer to ask for their removal as he was concerned about what Ruffin called a “security breach.”
“He asked the security officer, ‘Can you please remove them from the line?’ That’s what he asked the security officer,” Ruffin said, according to HBCU Gameday.
The officer claimed that Taylor was “very aggressive” and “the aggressor” and the reason why he was handcuffed.
Taylor has issued a statement regarding the incident, stating his shock: “I am at a loss for words and I am upset about how I was violated and treated today,” he said in a statement to The Field of 68, according to basketball analyst Jeff Goodman. “For my players, my family and people of Tuskegee to witness that is heartbreaking for me. I was simply trying to get the football team out of the handshake line as they were following right behind me and the team yelling obscenities! It was a very dangerous situation.”
Benjy Taylor has hired civil rights attorneys and is reportedly considering a lawsuit
Taylor hired civil rights attorneys Harry Daniels, Gregory Reynald Williams and Gerald Griggs following the incident. They are considering a potential civil lawsuit.
“It would be bad for a police officer to treat anyone like this,” Daniels said in a statement, per CBS Sports. “But to do it to a man like Coach Taylor, a highly respected professional and role model, to put him in handcuffs, humiliate him and treat him like a criminal in front of his team, his family and a gym full of fans is absolutely disgusting and they need to be held accountable.”
“Coach Taylor is a good man who did the right thing to protect his team and deescalate a dangerous situation, and this officer put him in chains for his troubles,” he added.
“During the events in question, Coach Taylor acted solely out of his fundamental responsibility to protect his student-athletes and staff—particularly in an environment where agreed-upon and customary game‑management and security protocols were not properly carried out. His conduct remained measured, professional, and entirely consistent with the expectations of a head coach entrusted with the safety of his team,” Tuskegee University President Mark A. Brown wrote in a statement regarding the incident.
“At no time did Coach Taylor engage in behavior that could be characterized as unbecoming, unprofessional, or inconsistent with the standards of Tuskegee University, the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SIAC), Morehouse College, or intercollegiate athletics broadly,” he added. “Conversely, the circumstances that culminated in Coach Taylor being handcuffed—albeit briefly—fall well outside the bounds of what is normal, acceptable, or appropriate in collegiate athletic environments. No coach should ever be placed in such a position for carrying out their duty to safeguard student-athletes.”