Former FAMU Band Member Files Lawsuit Against Board of Regents
TALLAHASSEE, Fla.
A former Florida A&M University band member who claims he was beaten as part of an initiation ceremony in 1998 has filed a lawsuit against the Board of Regents.
Ivery D. Luckey, who played in the Marching 100's clarinet section and is enrolled in FAMU's business school, is seeking damages in excess of $15,000 from the Regents, the 14-member panel that oversees Florida's public universities.
In the complaint filed last month in Leon Circuit Court, Luckey says he was "paddled"
at least 300 times, sending him
to the hospital and leaving him permanently injured. Luckey says he was beaten Nov. 9, 1998, by members of the "Clones," a subgroup of the marching band's clarinet section.
University spokeswoman Sharon Saunders says it is the university's policy not to comment on pending cases.
A 1990 state law prohibits hazing and requires public and private universities to enforce the law and assess penalties.
Meanwhile, a White man originally from Columbus, Ohio, was sentenced last month to life in prison for setting off two pipe bombs last year at the university.
No one was injured in either blast. But the bombings, accompanied by racist phone calls, had the school gripped by fear for a month at the beginning of the 1999-2000 school year.
Lawrence Lombardi, an unemployed funeral embalmer who was convicted in June, maintained that he was inno-cent. He told U.S. District Judge Robert L. Hinkle that he believed federal agents, under pressure to make an arrest, made him a scapegoat.
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