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The parents of a former Alcoa High School football player have sued the school, the city of Alcoa, the Alcoa City Schools Board of Education and several faculty members in federal court for more than $1.1 million. The lawsuit alleges, among other things, that their son was deprived of his civil rights when he was kicked off the school's football team in April.

Harold and Kristie Murray, sued on behalf of their son -- who is only identified in the lawsuit as "HM" -- in U.S. District Court in Knoxville. Along with the governmental entities named as defendants, assistant principal and football coach Gary Rankin, Director of Schools Tom Shamblin, teacher Steve Dunn and athletic director Josh Stephens were named as defendants in the action.

According to the lawsuit, on April 11, "HM" was riding in a vehicle that was stopped by police. A passenger in the vehicle was cited with possession of marijuana, but "HM" "did nothing illegal, had nothing illegal, and had no involvement whatsoever with any criminal activity that caused the other individual in the vehicle to receive a citation," the suit said.

But even though the student was not cited in the incident, he was called to the office the following Monday where Rankin started "interrogating" the student before kicking him off the football team, the suit said.

After the initial incident, the Murrays allege that their son then experienced "a pattern of retaliation, harassment and discriminatory treatment" from school administrators and staff, which included alleged defamation by Rankin.

When contacted by The Daily Times, Rankin declined to comment on the lawsuit. Shamblin also declined comment, saying the case was pending litigation.

The lawsuit seeks compensatory damages in the amount of $150,000 and punitive damages totaling $1 million.

A response on behalf of the defendants had not been filed as of Friday.