LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WHAS11) -- It was November 3rd, 2017, before that Friday night's football game when Sydney Jenkins received a call - her son, then a freshman on Central High School's football team, had been hit in the back of his head and knocked unconscious.
"When I get there, it's, "No, this happened in the locker room before the game with another teammate,'" she said.
Jenkins, who agreed to speak with WHAS11 in an on-camera interview, said she was told her son had been unresponsive for several minutes and was taken to a hospital, where he was diagnosed with a concussion. But while her son was in the hospital, Jenkins said the student who attacked her son was playing football.
"Who protects my son? And where is the justice?" Jenkins said. "How is it fair that someone admits to doing it and is still allowed to play without consequences, without punishment?"
Jenkins has filed a lawsuit that lists Central High School's football coach Marvin Dantzler, athletic director Ryan Bringhurst, principal Raymond Green and the Jefferson County Board of Education as defendants, claiming negligence and retaliation in the incident. This is the second lawsuit filed by attorney Shaun Wimberly Sr. against the defendants in the past two weeks.
According to the lawsuit, the student, then a junior, who attacked Jenkins's son, admitted to Dantzler and other assistant coaches that he had hit his teammate, but he was still allowed to play in that night's game and for the rest of the season.
"It doesn't matter if you're winning football games," Wimberly said. "It's high school football. That's all."
Jenkins said she spoke with the Principal Green the following Monday who told her he would investigate the incident and would handle the situation.
"He doesn't handle it," she said. "I repeatedly go to the school. I'm not allowed to talk to him or he's never there."
Jenkins said she has tried to contact Central and JCPS officials and board members about her son, but said she has found them mostly unresponsive to her concerns. She said an assistant principal did talk to her about removing her son from the school instead.
"It's unfair, and no, my son is not leaving Central," she said. "My son loves being in Central. Why should my son, the victim, have to leave when it happened to him?"
Jenkins said her son left the team after the incident. She said he still suffers from headaches, but beyond the physical effects, her son is more afraid of attending school and has become far less social.
"My son gave up a lifelong dream - he's been playing football since he was 8 - over one incident, and it stopped him from everything," she said. "Justice is the biggest thing that can come out of this, because if it can happen to my son, maybe this will stop it from happening to someone else."
The lawsuit seeks an unspecified amount of monetary damages that will cover, among other things, past, present and future medical bills and counseling.
When asked for comment, a JCPS spokesperson told WHAS11 the district does not comment on pending litigation.
►Contact reporter Dennis Ting at dting@whas11.com. Follow him on Twitter (@DennisJTing) and Facebook.