Hinsdale Central Coach Resigns After Complaint: Lawsuit

HINSDALE, IL — A longtime assistant track coach at Hinsdale Central High School last year resigned a day after a student alleged the coach grabbed her by the neck and face, according to a federal lawsuit.

A month later, the school ordered the coach to stay off school property, documents say.

In March, the student, Dina Esposito, a 2019 graduate, filed a lawsuit in federal court alleging she was the victim of discrimination. She is part African American.

The assistant coach, Patrice Wilson, resigned Feb. 12, 2019, after nearly a quarter century as a coach and substitute with the school. She was named as a defendant, along with head girls track coach Pat Richards and Hinsdale High School District 86.

According to the lawsuit, Esposito, now 19, failed to show up at track practice on Jan. 24, 2019. The next day, Wilson pulled her out of gym class and took her to the weight room.

In the weight room, Wilson grabbed Esposito, a Clarendon Hills resident, by the front of her shirt and by her neck and face, the lawsuit says. She then threatened to choke her if she failed to show up for practice that day, it says.

Wilson then proceeded to require Esposito to lift weights because she was "scrawny," court documents state. While the coach was spotting, she deliberately spit on Esposito, with several students witnessing, according to the lawsuit.

Check the discrimination lawsuit against Hinsdale High School District 86 and the district's answers to the contentions.

The district's response to the lawsuit acknowledged that Esposito informed the athletic director about the incident Feb. 11, 2019. The next day, the director reported the incident to the state Department of Child and Family Services, as state law requires. Wilson resigned the same day.

In another incident in February 2019, Wilson, in front of other students, accused Esposito of lying about her race, according to the lawsuit. Esposito responded that she was bi-racial, both African American and white.

The lawsuit said Wilson "vehemently and bizarrely" challenged Esposito's ability to identify her own race, claiming the student was "Mexican."

In its response, the district said after Esposito complained that Wilson was attending track events, it issued Wilson a no-trespass letter on March 9, 2019.

Esposito alleged in her lawsuit that Wilson continued to attend and harass her during events, which the district denied. In one incident, Esposito said, Wilson walked onto the field and cried to Esposito's teammates and blamed Esposito for her losing her job. The district said this did not happen. In her response, Wilson denied the allegations, but admitted to attending one off-campus meet after she resigned.

After Wilson's departure, the lawsuit says, head coach Richards was "noticeably harder" on Esposito than her teammates. In one incident, she tried several times to notify the coach that she needed to drive to an off-campus meet because she had to leave early, but Richards ignored her, the lawsuit says.

The day of the meet, Esposito boarded the bus to ask Richards whether she could drive. According to the lawsuit, Richards yelled at Esposito for not informing him about the situation and refused to let her drive to the event, according to the lawsuit. In its response, the district noted the school's policy of requiring team members go by bus.

Other team members who were white or did not make discrimination claims against Wilson were able to drive to meets with reasonable excuses, the lawsuit says. Richards told Esposito in front of others that the student already got one coach fired and that he was not going to be the next, it says.

In his response to the lawsuit, Richards denied the allegations. He said Esposito's mother emailed him about her daughter driving to the event, but did not see it until after Esposito boarded the bus.

District spokesman Chris Jasculca declined to comment on the lawsuit. He acknowledged a settlement with Esposito existed. Patch filed a public records request last week for the document.

Lawyers for Esposito, Wilson and Richards couldn't be reached for comment.

In August 2019, Wilson became the head girls track coach at Rockford East High School, according to her LinkedIn page.