Former NFL star Aqib Talib, his brother, Yaqub Talib, and a youth sports league face a wrongful death lawsuit from the family of a coach who was killed in an altercation in August.
Michael Hickmon, 43, was shot and killed in Lancaster, Texas, in August after a disagreement between coaches and officials during a youth football game escalated. The coaches had issues with some calls made by the officiating crew.
The suspect, later identified as Yaqub Talib, pulled out a gun and shot Hickmon multiple times and fled the scene, police said at the time. He later turned himself in after a first-degree felony murder warrant was issued for his arrest.
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On Tuesday, Hickmon’s family filed the lawsuit against the Talib brothers and Big XII Youth Sports League and Family Services. The lawsuit, obtained by Fox News Digital, says tensions were high throughout the Aug. 13 game between the Dragons Elite Academy 9U team, coached by Hickmon, and the North Dallas United Bobcats, coached by the Talib brothers.
During the game, the lawsuit says the Talib brothers “became physically and verbally abusive” when the Dragons scored following a taunting penalty on the Bobcats. The game ended with time remaining in the game. Seeing that the game was over, the lawsuit says Hickmon went over to grab his son’s ball, which was being used as the game ball, and that’s when Aqib Talib confronted Hickmon and allegedly threw a punch.
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Hickmon was dazed after the punch, and when he got back to his feet, Yaqub Talib “pulled a handgun and fired approximately five shots from just a few feet away,” according to the lawsuit.
The lawsuit says Yaqub Talib was a convicted felon and not legally allowed to own a handgun in the first place.
The Hickmon family is seeking $1 million in damages and is demanding a jury trial.
Clark Birdsall, the lawyer for the Talib brothers, didn’t immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment. He told the Dallas Morning-News in September that Yaqub Talib had a case for self-defense and the allegations against Aqib Talib were “absolutely 100% hogwash.”
Realford Consulting, a league partner, was also named in the lawsuit. Raymond Alford, who’s a partial owner of the Big XII League, said he hadn’t been notified of the lawsuit yet but the league had no real involvement in the game given that it was a preseason fundraiser for the Bobcats.
“We have no control over what happens in the preseason,” Alford told the Dallas Morning News. “We don’t run the games, we don’t supply the fields, we don’t supply the referees.”
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