In a shocking, violent and sad turn of events, a 15-year-old James Madison High School football player’s football aspirations came to a bloody end when his coach allegedly smashed his skull into a wall.
Shayson Willock, a freshman at the Brooklyn school, and his mother, Deslyn, want answers and are heading to court for justice. She filed a $2.5 million lawsuit in August against coach Nicholas Nugent, the city of New York and the New York Department of Education.
As of Tuesday, the coach is also facing criminal charges after appearing in court for the alleged beating.
Nugent was arrested days after the Sept. 18, 2023, incident and was charged with multiple counts of felony assault, endangering the welfare of a child, harassment and menacing, according to the criminal complaint against him.
Now he’s fighting to stay out of prison.
Reached by phone this week, the coach said he couldn’t speak about the case.
“I’m shocked by the phone call to find out it’s a news thing, but hey, it is what it is. It’s all good,” Nugent said. “That’s why we’re going to trial, because I’m all about defending my freedom. I’m all about defending my rights.”
James Madison HS Football Player Allegedly Badly Beaten By Coach
Deslyn’s son, who is now 15 and has since transferred to another school, was reportedly pummeled so viciously by Nugent in a James Madison High School stairwell last September that he lost consciousness and needed six staples in his skull according to a criminal complaint and civil lawsuit.
“I don’t know who to trust,” mother Deslyn Willock admitted to the New York Post.
She doesn’t think the administrators have done their due diligence in finding out what happened to her son. According to Willock, they swept the vicious beating under the rug, forcing her to report the attack to the local authorities.
“I don’t know if I can trust the teachers. I don’t know if I can trust the coaches. I don’t even know if I can trust the justice system. I don’t know who to trust at this point, because I felt like everyone failed me. Everyone failed my son.”
Reportedly, when the coach was asked about the situation by the post, his response to a reporter was, among other remarks, “It’s all good.”
In addition to the staples in his head, photos produced by The Post show wounds that the boy’s attorneys report include spinal damage and additional brain and head injuries.
Who Is James Madison Coach Nicholas Nugent?
Nugent’s X page shows that he’s a New York sports fan and his interaction about high school football is positive and represents Nugent as an advocate for kids trying to navigate life and sports.
With this story growing legs in other areas of the country, the engagement on Nugent’s X page has been hit with a few negative comments alluding to jail time that he might be serving in the future.
In the latest twist, Nugent has made his account private, but that hasn’t stopped details from emerging.
Shayson Willock Speaks On Alleged Assault By His James Madison HS Football Coach
Shayson, who has been trying to keep a low profile during this ordeal, says he wasn’t feeling well that day because he was recovering from COVID and fell asleep in an after-school video review session with his football team.
He says, his lethargy upset coach Nugent, who was upset and brought the sick child into a strairwell.
“He slammed twice, so the first time I hit in my head and then, you know, I was on the floor and then the second time…was full of blood,” the victim said, according to reports.
The traumatizing incident has shattered Shayson’s love for football. He says it was his life before the incident, but he’s had to transfer schools because of the attention and doesn’t think he will ever play again.
Stay tune for how this shapes up.