Mother of slain basketball star files lawsuit

WEST HAVEN, Conn. (CTPost.com)  -- The mother of former Sacred Heart basketball player Chauncey Hardy -- who was beaten to death in Romania last year while playing professionally there -- has filed a lawsuit in U.S. federal court against several people and organizations, including Hardy's killer, his basketball team and league, his team's head coach and the hospital where he was treated.

The lawsuit was filed last week, days before the one-year anniversary of Hardy's death, by West Haven attorney Richard Altschuler on behalf of Olamae Hardy, of Middletown, who is overseeing her son's estate.

On Oct. 9, 2011, Hardy, 23, was punched in the head while at a bar in Giurgiu, Romania, where he was playing for a local team. Hardy fell to the ground, suffering severe brain injuries and two neck fractures. He died after surgery in a hospital in Bucharest, the Romanian capital.

In Feb. 2012, Ionut Adrian Tanasoaia, 25, Hardy's assailant, was sentenced to five years in prison on a charge of public outrage.

In the lawsuit, Altschuler claims there was racial tension in Giurgiu that led to the assault.

Read more at Connecticut Post.