Whitehall Township approves $75,000 settlement after basketball game incident
Yolanda Wright filed the lawsuit against the Whitehall Township Police Department in connection with the Jan. 2020 incident.
WHITEHALL TWP., Pennsylvania (WPVI) -- An incident last year involving arrests at a high school basketball game has been settled out of court.
Parent Yolanda Wright and another mother filed racial discrimination claims against the Whitehall Township Police Department following the incident on Jan. 28, 2020.
On Monday night, the Whitehall Township Board of Commissioners approved a $75,000 payment to Wright and her son Mekhi Burkett.
According to the suit, the incident started when the district's athletic director asked a 14-year-old student in the bleachers to leave. The teen "gave attitude" to the school official, who then called the police, the suit says.
The suit says the situation escalated and became violent after police got involved.
Burkett and three other students, all Black, were arrested after the incident.
Wright alleged Black students were not treated equally because white and Latino students involved in the fight were neither arrested nor charged.
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