Raleigh mother of one-punch death victim sues former Wake Forest University coach, school
The mother of a man who died after being punched in the head by a former Wake Forest University assistant basketball coach has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the coach and the university.
Donna Kent, who lives in Raleigh, is seeking unspecified compensatory and punitive damages for the death of her son, Sandor Szabo, who was 35 when a chance encounter with coach Jamill Jones turned deadly on a Long Island City street in August 2018.
Kent’s attorney filed the civil suit on Monday in the New York Supreme Court of Queens County, where almost two weeks ago a judge sentenced Jones to probation and community service for the assault that led to Szabo’s death. Jones had faced a maximum of a year in jail after prosecutors charged him with third-degree assault, a misdemeanor.
Since her son’s death, Kent had urged the district attorney to charge Jones with a more serious crime. Prosecutors, though, said they were constrained by how New York state laws handle cases in which a punch leads to someone’s death.
“Because of outdated New York law, the Queens District Attorney was only able to charge Jones with third-degree assault — a misdemeanor — for his fatal attack on Mr. Szabo,” John Pierce, Kent’s attorney, said in a statement. “Taking one’s life is not remedied with a misdemeanor charge.
“A civil action is now the only means to obtain justice for Mr. Szabo and his family who have suffered tremendously with his death.”
The lawsuit was filed almost exactly two years after the fatal confrontation. It alleges that Jones left Szabo to choke on his own blood after “a cowardly attack.” The two men encountered each other outside of New York City in the early morning hours of Aug. 5, 2018.
Szabo, a digital marketing consultant who lived in Boca Raton, Florida, had traveled to New York to attend his step-sister’s wedding. Jones, who was in his first year as an assistant basketball coach at Wake Forest, was in New York in the capacity of his job, the lawsuit alleges.
The night they crossed paths, Szabo had been drinking at the wedding and the reception after. Kent acknowledged that her son was intoxicated, and witnesses recalled seeing him stumble on the sidewalk after he left a post-wedding party. He was waiting for a ride from Lyft when Jones stopped at a Long Island City intersection in a white BMW SUV.
Szabo approached the vehicle, a confrontation ensued, and moments later Jones exited the vehicle and pursued Szabo on foot, striking him once in the head while Szabo retreated. Szabo fell and never regained consciousness. He was pronounced dead two days later.
The civil suit alleges that Jones ignored Szabo’s injured state, despite training he would have received as a coach.
“According to witnesses, Mr. Szabo laid unconscious on the street with blood pouring from his ears, face and mouth, choking his airway as Jones casually departed the scene with no concern about Mr. Szabo’s condition,” Pierce said in his statement. “Remarkably, the Wake Forest-trained athletic coach chose not to call 911, did not attempt to tend to an unconscious Mr. Szabo, and did not attempt to render help or assistance or seek it from nearby pedestrians or residents.”
Kent, who is seeking a jury trial, named Wake Forest in the suit because she alleges that Jones was in New York on school business, to spend time with a prospective player. The suit alleges that Jones “was an agent, servant, and/or employee of Wake Forest acting within the course and scope of his employment and/or agency during his time in New York,” and that therefore the university is liable for his actions there.
The university placed Jones on leave after he turned himself in and was charged in the case. He resigned in 2019, and said before his sentencing last month he’d lost his family and his career in the aftermath of Szabo’s death.
