AGAIN AND AGAIN

Ex-High School Track Coach Accused of Sexually Assaulting 16-Year-Old Student

A wrestling coach was convicted of molesting 25 male students in the same district.

A former California high-school track coach has been accused of sexually assaulting one of his 16-year-old students, according to a lawsuit cited in a Sunday report from USA Today. Wyatt Davidson, 23, is facing 14 charges including sexual assault and battery, negligence, and intentional infliction of emotional distress, stemming from an alleged relationship with a girl he coached on the Torrance High School track team in 2017. “[The student] was inexperienced, innocent, confused and overpowered physically and emotionally by an older, experienced mature man who was also her mentor and authority figure who had been her coach for almost two years and who was manipulating her into satiating his inappropriate sexual attraction to minors,” the lawsuit alleges. This year, Davidson pleaded no contest to a charge of statutory rape and served one day in jail, and is now serving three years of probation. The suit, which seeks $5 million in damages, also names Davidson’s father, the district superintendent, and various other school officials. The same school district had previously reached a settlement with a high-school wrestling coach who was convicted of molesting dozens of male students.