Trans volleyball player accused of plotting to hurt a teammate after taking scholarships from female players
San Jose State women’s volleyball player Brooke Slusser and several of her peers have come forward in a new lawsuit against the university and the Mountain West Conference.
It is alleged that Slusser’s safety, dignity and rights were jeopardized by the presence of a trans athlete, and this athlete was also offered a scholarship by trans women who were left financially and emotionally affected.
In court documents obtained by Fox News Digital and OutKick, Slusser and other players shared details about how Slusser was allegedly hit in the face by a volleyball during a match.
San Jose State volleyball player Chandler Manusky has been cited in a lawsuit recounting an incident in early October, when he and other teammates, including a trans athlete, violated team rules by sneaking into the team hotel the night before a game against Colorado State. Manusky said he then learned about Fleming’s alleged plan to ensure San Jose State would lose a game and stopped Colorado State player Malaya Jones from punching Slusser in the face during a game on Oct. 3.
“Manusky said that at Jones’ residence, Fleming shared with Jones a look at the CSU-FC game and discussed Fleming’s pitching.[ing] game’ and how they were going to stop Jones from ‘blasting’ Slusser and ‘blasting’ him in the face during the game,” court documents read.
“Manusky also said Fleming said, ‘I’m going to leave the court open,’ which will allow Malaya Jones to shoot freely to try to ‘blast Slusser,’ that is, to try to hit Brooke Slusser in the face with the ball.”
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The papers allege that Manusky confronted coach Todd Kress and suspended assistant coach Melissa Batie-Smoose about the incident. Manusky says he was crying as he begged them not to tell Fleming that he was the one who went public with the story. Kress allegedly told Batie-Smoose that he believed the story was untrue.
“Kress told Batie-Smoose that he didn’t believe Manusky and thought he made up the whole story so he wouldn’t get in trouble for leaving the team hotel,” the documents read.
Batie-Smoose was suspended by the program after filing a Title IX complaint against the university’s selection of Fleming. Batie-Smoose is now part of a new offense as well.
San Jose State provided a statement to Fox News Digital.
“We have not been charged. We have just received a copy of the 132-page document at 3:58 p.m. We will not comment at this time,” said the statement.
Fox News Digital previously obtained a statement from San Jose State regarding earlier reports of allegations against Fleming for harming Slusser.
“The safety and well-being of our student-athletes and staff is our highest priority. The university has taken and will continue to take many steps to provide safety, support, and resources to all team members as the program navigates this challenging time,” the statement read.
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“San José State takes all reports and complaints seriously, but we cannot provide any information about confidential complaints and reports out of respect for the parties involved and due to federal and state privacy laws. The university also has concerns about the many inaccuracies in the press but we cannot comment further on the privacy rights of all We will continue to respect the privacy of our employees and students and applicable laws regarding student and employee privacy.”
Slusser told Fox News Digital in an exclusive interview that he was informed of the plan by Fleming and believes he was treated unfairly at the university, saying the university did not do enough to investigate the matter.
“If it was me, and I was the one threatening to do this to my colleague who caused the noise, action would have been taken immediately,” said Slusser. “Of course I was very angry, and I was happy at the beginning to know that the coaching staff had noticed and everyone was getting along, but I don’t know if that made me feel differently, I was just angry because I was already angry. I didn’t think anyone could go this way.”
“Threatening to want to hurt one of your colleagues, I feel like there are a lot of things in that conversation that the school would want to deal with.”
Slusser also said he has not spoken to Fleming about the allegations, adding that talking to the athlete “is not worth my breath.”
The case accounts for Fleming’s first hire to the team in 2022.
Fleming received a full scholarship, while a female player, Alyssa Sugai, did not receive a scholarship and says she was told by coaches that she was not “physical” enough as a player compared to Fleming. Sugai is now part of the lawsuit and is seeking monetary compensation after the decision to award Fleming the lawsuit instead resulted in Sugai not being able to play volleyball, which caused a lot of stress.
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“Because of his frustration and feelings of inadequacy because he could not start the team with hard work and sacrifice and because his reduced playing time after Fleming prevented him from getting the things promised through the transfer portal, Sugai faced depression in time again. after the transfer period and ultimately determined that she had no reasonable choice but to stop playing volleyball after the 2022 season,” the court document read.
“Losing Fleming caused Sugai to question his ability to play volleyball at a high level, even though he had trained hard and competed since childhood. It also caused him to question his self-esteem and made him feel ‘lost.’
Her former San Jose State teammate Elle Patterson is also part of the lawsuit and claims she did not receive the scholarship. Patterson also played behind Fleming and says the university did not honor previous scholarship promises to him for the 2023 and 2024 seasons. Patterson says he even paid full tuition to play in 2023 after being told he would receive a scholarship for 2024. However, even this plan was not successful, he says.
“Finally, Patterson informed Associate Head Coach Batie-Smoose and Head Coach Todd Kress that he could not financially afford out-of-state tuition, room and board at SJSU again in 2024 and therefore would not be able to return. at SJSU. A non-scholarship team,” the documents read.
“However, Todd Kress remained steadfast in his position that Patterson will not receive a scholarship to play on SJSU’s team in 2024, and that Fleming will receive a full scholarship to play on SJSU’s team.”
Patterson is also now seeking financial compensation.
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Slusser also alleged that the university threatened to strip him of his scholarship for speaking out about sharing the team, locker room and dormitory with Fleming.
The lawsuit alleges that Kress spoke with a private attorney as part of his efforts to have Slusser removed from the team and told others that he had filed Title IX complaints against Slusser based on comments Slusser made, but on Slusser’s communications. he has spoken to journalists and public forums about his beliefs.
Slusser previously told Fox News Digital that he supports Trump’s proposed ban on transgender athletes in women’s sports, and that whether or not it is banned will determine whether he allows his future daughter to play sports.
“If I knew there was a man playing where my daughter should be playing, or playing with my daughter, my daughter wouldn’t be in that situation. I wouldn’t let that happen to my daughter, I just know that. I’ve been through it, I just know it’s wrong and it’s wrong and it’s not safe.”
In the 2020 election cycle, 94.38% of San José State University employee donations went to Democratic candidates in state elections, and 5.62% of donations went to Republican candidatesaccording to data from Unlock Secrets.
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