UPDATE: High School Team Allowed To Attend Tournament Wearing 'I Can't Breathe' T-Shirts

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- A lawyer says members of a California high school basketball team can wear T-shirts reading "I Can't Breathe" during warm-ups at a tournament.

Players from Mendocino High School were previously told they could not play in the event if they wore the shirts.

However, Karen Boyd, an attorney for one of the players, said the Fort Bragg Unified School District agreed Monday to lift the ban on the phrase inspired by the last words of a New York man who died after a police officer put him in a chokehold.

Boyd says the reversal came as she prepared to file a federal court motion arguing the ban violated First Amendment rights.

District lawyer Patrick Wilson says officials remain concerned the shirts could cause a disruption but wanted to avoid the costs of a legal battle.

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