Man, allegedly beaten by 6 football players, talks to Action News

READING, Pa. (WPVI) -- A violent attack near a western Pennsylvania university has prompted criminal charges and a civil lawsuit. And the local victim at the center of the case is telling us his story.

Louis Campbell started with what sparked the incident: "A guy who I can readily identify mentioned something out of the way derogatory in a sexual manner to my girlfriend."

A Philadelphia native, Campbell explains he was outside a restaurant in California Borough, Pennsylvania the night of October 24th when he was surrounded and attacked by as many as six males.

"His friends jumped in. A couple blows later I was unconscious," he said.

Campbell had just moved to western Pennsylvania from West Chester.

He was placed in a medically induced coma for nearly a week.

"I had a skull fracture, a nose fracture, bleeding on the brain. Right now I still suffer from severe headaches. I'm almost deaf in my right ear," Campbell explained.

He says he's been making steady progress from a host of serious injuries.

Six members of the university's football team were arrested and charged with aggravated assault.

Among them, D'Andre Dunkley, the 19 year old son of a Philadelphia police officer.

Campbell's lawyer, William Rush, is preparing a lawsuit against the University of California of Pennsylvania claiming his research reveals some of the suspects had criminal records and the school knew it.

Rush says, "We believe the football program knew of the danger that these individuals possessed, and that they went to whatever extent necessary to cover it up and keep them on the football field, until this became so public that they could no longer do that."

Campbell tells us, "I did not provoke anything. I tried to defuse it."

The university immediately suspended the six students from the football team and from the school.

The school says it is hiring an independent third party to investigate the football program from top to bottom.

On Monday all six suspects are due in court in Washington County for a preliminary hearing on the evidence against them.