A former Auburn assistant track and field coach is suing the school's Board of Trustees for discrimination and claims a member of the coaching staff assaulted him, according to court documents.

In lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Alabama last week, Adrian Ghioroaie, who served as an assistant coach with Auburn's track and field team from Jan. 2014 until May 1, 2016, claims that he was discriminated against and his contract was not renewed due to an altercation with assistant track and field coach Henry Rolle. Ghioroaie alleges Rolle "physically assaulted" him during an Oct. 2015 staff meeting and "other coaches attempted to intervene when coach Rolle grabbed a metal tiger statue and started to swing it at coach Ghioroaie's head."

The 17-page suit, filed by Birmingham-based attorney John Saxon on behalf of Ghioroaie, seeks compensatory damages from Auburn, which the suit charges with three discrimination charges (race, national origin, based on color) and retaliation, and compensatory and punitive damages from Rolle, who is African-American, which the suit charges with assault and battery. Ghioroaie, now a resident of Ohio and assistant with the Toledo women's track and field team, is of Romanian descent.

The lawsuit claims during a coaches' meeting on Oct. 1, 2015, "Rolle put his hands around Gbioroaie's neck and began to squeeze with such force that coach Ghioroaie had red marks on his neck for two days" and other coaches attempted to intervene when Rolle grabbed the statue.

"Ghioroaie was frightened and took his cell phone out of his pocket to record the incident, but head coach Ralph Spry, also African-American, snatched the phone out of Ghioroaie's hand," according to the lawsuit, which claims a criminal case was brought against Rolle.

"During a probable cause hearing held on September 13, 2016, several witnesses testified, including another Auburn track and field coach, distance coach Mark Carroll (now head coach at Drake University), that coach Rolle physically attacked coach Ghioroaie and made threats against him," according to the lawsuit, which also claims, "During the criminal hearing coach Spry tried, during breaks and against the judge's orders, to convince certain witnesses to change their story. Coach Rolle pled guilty to harassment in order to participate in a diversion plan. He was placed on probation for six months beginning November 1, 2016."

An incident of misdemeanor harassment that took place from 8 a.m. on Oct. 1, 2015 to 11 p.m. Feb. 23, 2016 on the 600 block of Lem Morrison Drive - Auburn's track building is located at 650 Lem Morrison Drive - in which the victim was a 36-year-old-white male was reported to Auburn police on July 1, 2016 and Rolle was arrested for harassment on Sept. 13, 2016, according to police records obtained by AL.com.

Rolle had a court date in Auburn municipal court on Nov. 1, 2016, after which he agreed to complete a pre-trial diversion program, according to a court clerk. On May 17, 2017, the case against Rolle was dismissed with prejudice after he completed the diversion program, according to court records.

Carroll did not immediately respond to a message from AL.com.

"We will not comment on pending litigation," Auburn said in a statement to AL.com on Monday night.

The lawsuit states Ghioroaie informed Spry and members of the Auburn athletics administration that he did not feel safe coming to work but "did not want to jeopardize his ability to live and work legally in the United States" because the school was sponsoring his green card and work visa. Ghioroaie "was told by members of the Auburn athletic administration to say he felt safe going to work, even after he told them he did not," the suit alleges.

The suit claims Ghioroaie met with Auburn's human resources department on March 9, 2016, during which he was asked if he was lying, was later evaluated by Spry and eventually terminated on May 1 of that year.

On the various discrimination charges, the lawsuit claims Auburn's "Board, its Athletics Department, its Human Resources Department, and coach Spry all turned a deaf ear to coach Ghioroaie's complaints, refusing to investigate his allegations, and siding with coach Rolle, an African-American, over coach Ghioroaie, who is white. All Auburn personnel with whom coach Ghioroaie dealt regarding coach Rolle were African-American."

Auburn not renewing Ghioroaie's contract after his complaints to human resources and administrators about Rolle are the basis for the retaliation charge.

The suit by Ghioroaie is the latest issue for Auburn's athletic department, which is still facing one charge from the federal wrongful termination lawsuit by former baseball coach Sunny Golloway, a Title IX complaint by former softball player Alexa Nemeth and the FBI's case against assistant basketball coach Chuck Person. Auburn has retained Birmingham-based law firm Lightfoot, Franklin & White to review the softball and men's basketball programs and investigate an allegation of an academic staffer taking a test for a former football player.

James Crepea is an Auburn beat reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @JamesCrepea.