A Native American man who allegedly accused a group of Kentucky high school boys of racism and harassment soon could be hit with a defamation lawsuit.
Lawyer L. Lin Wood, who represents Covington Catholic High School student Nick Sandmann, announced plans to sue Native American activist Nathan Phillips last week, The Blaze reports.
Wood said Phillips told “lies and false accusations” about Sandmann and other students after the March for Life on Jan. 18 in Washington, D.C. He said Phillips’ statements are “well documented,” and the lawsuit will be filed within the next two weeks.
Wood also confirmed their plans to sue Phillips Feb. 8 on social media.
The smears against Sandmann and other Covington Catholic students began after a heavily edited video surfaced of them face to face with Phillips after the March for Life. Longer footage of the incident later disproved many of the claims of harassment and racism by Sandmann and his peers. However, the students and their families received death threats, and their school was forced to close several days because of security concerns.
Phillips is just one of a long list of individuals and entities that may be sued. Last week, lawyer Todd McMurty, co-counsel for Sandmann, told Fox News that they have a list of 52 entities already, but they expect it to grow.
“I suspect when it’s all over the list is going to be in the hundreds as we identify other people who have defamed, slandered and libeled Nick both in the press, live programs, and writing,” McMurty said. “We do intend to pursue as many of these people as we possibly can.”
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He continued: “They made false statements against my client that have damaged his reputation. And imagine being the person subject to all of this hatred at age 16 and imagine when you apply to a college grad school. Imagine when you go to a party. Imagine when you seek a new job or want to move to a new city we’re going to know who you are. I don’t think people are going to forget this for years to come. And what they did to him is completely inexcusable. It’s a travesty and they all need to be punished and they need to pay a high price for what they did.”
The legal team said they are in the process of sending letters demanding that the entities retract their statements against the students. A list of the 52 entities can be found here.
“There was a rush by the media to believe what it wanted to believe versus what actually happened,” McMurty said, previously.
For example, McMurtry told The Cincinnati Enquirer that Sandmann was accused of getting into the face of Phillips, but the full footage of the incident disproved this claim.
In January, a heavily edited video of the students went viral, appearing to show them taunt Phillips after the March for Life in Washington, D.C. One of the students, Sandmann, who was wearing a Make America Great Again hat, was accused of racism for standing face to face with Phillips and smiling at him.
However, a longer video shows that there was much more to the story. It prompted many to backtrack their initial condemnation of the students. The video indicates that both the students and Native Americans were harassed by a radical religious group called the Black Hebrew Israelites.
Despite the new evidence, left-wing activist Kathy Griffin and others have been adamant in their criticism of the teens and the teens only. There has been little condemnation of the Black Hebrew Israelite adults who shouted profanities and racial slurs at the teens and Native Americas, or of Phillips who claimed the students got in his face when video evidence indicates that he approached them, according to Reason.
In a statement, Sandmann said he was confused by the whole incident and he smiled only to let the other protesters know that he would not be intimidated.
“I am a faithful Christian and practicing Catholic, and I always try to live up to the ideals my faith teaches me – to remain respectful of others, and to take no action that would lead to conflict or violence,” the student said.
