Metro

School sued after staph infection spreads among wrestlers

Administrators at a Long Island high school are being slammed for not flipping over a sodden wrestling mat for seven sweaty years — a failure that led to a rash of potentially lethal staph infections, according to a new $12 million lawsuit.

Five wrestlers at Rocky Point High School in Yaphank were stricken with the MRSA bacterial infection in January after rolling around on the dirty mat, the suit claims.

Anthony Lucia Sr., the father of the unnamed plaintiff, blasted the school district for neglecting to maintain basic cleanliness and for failing to notify parents about the infections in a timely manner.

“This student athlete and his peers were recklessly exposed to losing life and limb because of the school’s negligence,” said Lucia’s attorney, Vesselin Mitev. “No high-school wrestler signs up to be eaten alive.”

Lucia’s son spent five days in a hospital after his diagnosis and had to have a lump on his knee surgically removed, the suit states.

Rocky Point staffers acknowledged the MRSA spread but told parents it was a treatable condition and that panic was unnecessary.

Superintendent Michael Ring — who is named as a defendant along with wrestling coach Darren Goldstein — told parents MRSA is “common and it is possible that more cases will be identified.”