A former Clover High School soccer player's family has sued the Clover School District, alleging longtime boys' soccer coach Graham Stafford slide-tackled the 17-year-old during a class scrimmage in October 2024, breaking his leg, and then grabbed the teen by the throat and drove him to the ground. The lawsuit claims the assault abruptly ended the student's high school athletic career and accuses district administrators of ignoring years of complaints about Stafford's aggressive conduct toward students and athletes.
According to the lawsuit, detailed in reporting by the Post and Courier, the incident began when the teen moved a soccer ball that Stafford had placed at midfield. Stafford allegedly charged several yards toward the student before sliding into him, breaking his leg, then grabbing him by the throat and driving him to the ground. The student's parents said in the lawsuit that Stafford blamed the teen for the incident and suggested he needed to be “toughened up.”
The family is suing the district on four counts of negligence, arguing that Clover School District owed students a duty to establish and follow adequate employee screening and supervision policies. Attorney Joshua Slavin, who represents the student's family and is based in Mount Pleasant, wrote that Stafford had an established history of losing his temper and using physical force and intimidation against minor students. The lawsuit also alleges the student's family agreed to stay silent about the incident in exchange for the district paying the teen's medical bills.
A Decorated Coach's Decade at Clover
Stafford served as Clover High School's head varsity boys' soccer coach from August 2014 until his resignation in October 2024, according to entity background compiled by Bold.pro. He brought 27 years of physical education teaching experience across Massachusetts and South Carolina to the role, and the Clover School District Board of Trustees named him Region 4-AAAAA Coach of the Year in 2017 after he guided the team to three consecutive regional titles. He was also selected to coach in the 2021 North-South Soccer Classic, and before Clover he taught elementary physical education for Rock Hill Schools from 2007 to 2014 and served as head men's soccer coach at Emerson College from 2000 to 2002.
That professional standing is part of what makes the allegations land hard in the community. Clover High School parent Andrea Meglii told WBTV that her own son had previously experienced harsh scrutiny and difficult treatment from Stafford that hurt his athletic performance. When she learned of the lawsuit, she said, “it was about time.” Her account echoes the complaint's broader claim of a pattern of aggressive behavior toward student athletes.
Criminal Charge, Then a Quiet Resolution
The York County Sheriff's Office charged Stafford with third-degree assault and battery following the October 2024 incident on the high school soccer field, WCNC reported. Court records show Stafford resigned from his district role shortly after the criminal charges were filed. He went on to complete Pre-Trial Intervention for the charge, a program run by the 16th Judicial Circuit Solicitor's Office for first-time non-violent offenders that requires counseling, community service, drug testing, and victim restitution in exchange for avoiding prosecution.
As part of that program, Stafford was required to write an apology letter, and the third-degree assault and battery charge was ultimately dropped. Under South Carolina's expungement statutes, charges dismissed or not prosecuted after successful completion of pretrial intervention are eligible to be sealed and removed from the state background check databases maintained by the State Law Enforcement Division. That legal mechanism helps explain why, according to the South Carolina Department of Education database, Stafford's teaching license remains valid and he is not shown working in any public school in the state.
What the District Is Saying, and What the Law Allows
Clover School District officials have not commented on the lawsuit itself. In a written response to WBTV, district officials declined to discuss specific allegations because of the pending litigation but emphasized that the district “takes student safety very seriously.” District leaders offered no further comment on employee oversight procedures.
Any recovery the family could win is bound by the South Carolina Tort Claims Act, which governs civil suits against public school districts as political subdivisions of the state under S.C. Code Ann. § 15-78-10. That law caps governmental tort liability at $300,000 per individual and $600,000 per total occurrence, according to KD Trial Lawyers. The case now moves forward on two separate tracks: a criminal matter already resolved through diversion and expungement, and a civil case that centers on whether Clover School District failed its duty to screen and supervise the coach it employed for a decade.
