A 14-year-old Brooklyn boy's high school football dreams were brutally ended when his coach slammed his head into a wall, his heartbroken mother claims, and now she's heading to court for an explanation.
According to criminal charges and a civil lawsuit, Chaisson Willock was beaten so badly by coach Nicholas Nugent on the steps of James Madison High School last September that he was left unconscious and had six staples lodged in his skull.
“I don't know who to trust,” her mother, Deslyn Willock, told The Washington Post, expressing doubts that school officials largely covered up the incident and left it to her to report it to the NYPD.
“I don't know if I can trust the teachers,” said Willock, who filed a $2.5 million lawsuit Monday against Nugent, the city and the Department of Education. “I don't know if I can trust the coaches. I don't know if I can trust the justice system. I don't know who to trust at this point because I feel like everybody betrayed me. Everybody betrayed my son.”
Nugent was arrested days after the Sept. 18, 2023, incident, in which he was allegedly enraged because the child was asleep during a team video review. According to the criminal complaint against him, the coach was charged with multiple felony assault, endangering the welfare of a child, harassment and intimidation counts.
He is currently on probation, but the Department of Education would not say whether he is still employed by the district.
Reached by phone this week, the coach said he couldn't discuss the matter.
“I was shocked to find out it was on the news through my phone, but hey, it is what it is. Everything turned out fine,” Nugent said. “That's why we're going to court. I'm committed to protecting my freedom. I'm committed to protecting my rights.”
The Department of Energy did not answer a series of questions about Nugent's employment or the incident, instead issuing a short statement.
“Student safety is our number one priority,” Education Department spokeswoman Jenna Lyle said. “We will review the lawsuit.”
The city's Law Department declined to comment, citing pending litigation.
The lawsuit and family allege that Chaisson was recovering from painful COVID-19 symptoms and became sleepy during an after-school video review in a classroom when Nugent pushed him away and chased him down a hallway.
Nugent then allegedly slammed Chaisson multiple times against a wall and pinned him against a metal pole before Nugent chased Chaisson, who was bleeding from his head and ran back into the classroom.
The high school student said he fainted at the time.
“He was trying to tell me he wanted to go to the bathroom so he could wipe the blood off me,” Chaisson said.
Chaisson's mother said she received a call saying her son was bleeding from his head and that a manager had told her he had fallen backwards during an argument, but she also said she heard him yell, “He hurt me, he hurt me.”
Willock claims that despite coming from Queens, he arrived on the scene before any ambulances, even though he was less than 500 feet away from the emergency room.
“I saw my son lying there with blood coming from his head,” she said.
Chaisson received six staples, suffered a concussion and hasn't played football since, he and his mother said.
A subsequent MRI scan suggested he had a brain contusion and possible spinal cord injuries, said Willock's lawyer, Richard Kenny.
“He has a weak neck and multiple hernias,” Kenny said. “That's completely abnormal for someone his age.”
Willock said she had to take time off work to care for Chaisson, who hadn't attended school for a month and spent nights in agony.
When contacted, the school's principal, Jodi Cohen, said she was concerned about her son's welfare, but she said the school administration did not seem concerned about the coach or report the incident to police.
“I don't think the other parents really knew either,” Willock said, noting that she took her son to police a few days later to report the alleged attack.
Chaisson has since transferred schools and, in some ways, is thriving well, but said he can't imagine playing sports again, even if doctors give him the go-ahead.
“I just didn't love football anymore,” Chaisson said, adding that he stopped playing because he didn't know if it would happen again.
But his mother is hopeful that time will help Chaisson heal and that he will receive justice for what was taken from him.
“When this first happened he told me he felt like he had no life left,” Willock said. “He feels like everything has been taken from him.
“As a mother, I hope that one day my son will play football again,” she said.
