Tuskegee basketball coach Benjy Taylor is seeking more than $1 million in a federal lawsuit filed on Friday against Morehouse College and two campus police officers after he was handcuffed following a game between the two schools in January, per documents obtained by ESPN.
Immediately following the Jan. 31 matchup between the two Division II historically Black colleges and universities at Morehouse’s Forbes Arena in Atlanta, Taylor asked a school police officer — identified in the lawsuit as R. Clark — to remove Morehouse football players who’d allegedly harassed and sworn at Tuskegee players and staffers throughout the game. Taylor claimed in the lawsuit that he again asked Clark to intervene when those football players ran onto the court during the postgame handshake lines. He was then placed in handcuffs and escorted off the floor by Clark.
The second officer, identified as M. Roberson, provided aid and assistance to Clark in arresting Taylor, according to the suit.
Taylor was not charged with a crime, and he was later released and allowed to travel with the team.
“During the ceremonial handshake that followed the game between the two teams, Coach Taylor made a request to Officer Clark to remove unauthorized students from the ceremonial handshake line. In response, Officer Clark chose not to ensure the safety of the student athletes, coaches, and staff of Tuskegee University,” states the lawsuit, which was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia Atlanta Division. “Instead, Officer Clark handcuffed Coach Taylor in front of thousands of onlookers including Coach Taylor’s family members and escorted him from the vicinity as if he were the most wanted individual in America. As a consequence of this reprehensible act and the miscarriage of justice directed at Coach Taylor, Coach Taylor has endured physical damages, emotional distress, and financial losses.”
— HBCU Gameday (@HBCUGameday) February 1, 2026
Harry Daniels, Taylor’s attorney, told ESPN that the head coach had to be treated at a local medical facility after his blood pressure skyrocketed due to trauma from what he called “an unlawful arrest.” Daniels also said the incident was embarrassing and could hurt Taylor’s professional career in the future.
The lawsuit accuses Morehouse and the two police officers involved in Taylor’s detainment of “willful intent, malice, bad faith, and a reckless disregard for the consequences. The conduct of all individual Defendants, as elaborated upon herein, was intentional, malicious, and demonstrated a conscious indifference to the federally protected rights of Coach Taylor.”
Daniels told ESPN that Taylor attempted to reach a private agreement with Morehouse before the lawsuit was filed.
“It’s incumbent upon us as lawyers to rehabilitate his reputation because at the end of the day, Benjy Taylor’s name is going to come across as the first coach to ever get arrested on a basketball court, paraded and walked off the court,” he said. “You Google his name right now. That’s what’s going to come up. Not that he’s [the current conference coach of the year]. Not that he’s a mentor of young men but he’s someone who was unlawfully arrested and perp-walked.”
Daniels said the seven-figure sum Taylor — who was the interim head coach at Hawai’i during the 2014-15 season — is seeking is appropriate considering the gravity of the incident. He said Taylor has already lost professional opportunities. Per Daniels, the adviser of an HBCU event rescinded an offer recently “due to the publicity of what’s happening.”
“We have to have redress for Mr. Taylor,” Daniels said. “We are absolutely seeking monetary damages in excess of $1 million.”
