Teens sexually assaulted in high school team hazing, parents allege in lawsuit

[milestogo]

Source: NBC

CHICAGO — The parents of two teenage boys filed a federal lawsuit Monday alleging their sons were sexually assaulted in a hazing tradition by older players on their suburban Chicago high school football team, and that three adult coaches were aware and even had a nickname for the ritual.

In the lawsuit, the parents contend that on Oct. 17, 2019, the older boys surrounded their sons, pinned them to the ground and assaulted them with a broomstick with such force that it broke. The lawsuit names the three Plainfield Central High School coaches and the school district.

The parents, who are identified only as Jane and John Doe A and Jane and John Doe B, say no coaches were in the locker room at the time of the alleged assault, but that they knew what was going on. The lawsuit says coaches at the school had, for at least five years, “recognized the term ‘Code Blue’ to refer to the custom, tradition, or practice of senior members of the Plainfield Central Varsity Football Team assaulting Freshmen members of the team in a sexual manner” and that the three coaches knew about it long before the alleged incident.

“The dreadful experience suffered by these two teenage boys is horrifying not only because it was physically and emotionally traumatizing, but also because it was completely preventable,” attorney Antonio M. Romanucci said in a statement. “Coaches were aware of these gruesome hazing traditions and looked the other way allowing it to happen.”


Read more: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/teens-sexually-assaulted-high-school-team-hazing-parents-allege-lawsuit-n1277531

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Rape is a "tradition"?

[Wild blueberry]

1. Book 'em Danno

Good for the parents.

[viva la]

2. This was a "tradition" in a rich suburb near me-

The older boys assaulted the freshmen in the locker room and on the bus, often with the coaches right there.

One brave boy told his mother, who went to the police. The coaches were shocked to find that rape was a criminal offense.

[dhol82]

3. The broomstick broke???

That’s sadism.
Those boys should be in jail.
Anybody remember Abner Louima?

[GregariousGroundhog]

10. The coaches should also be in jail

Many states (Illinois included) have a mandated reporter laws on the books.

[ProfessorGAC]

26. Indeed We Do!

I'm only a sub, and we have to take the training through the state portal.
It's good for 3 years. So, next year, if I decide to still do this, I'll have to take it again.
They're very serious about it here in Illinois.

[Jilly_in_VA]

4. Something similar

happened a few years ago in Hamilton County, TN. except it was a basketball team. It came to light because one kid went home and collapsed. He had a ruptured bladder and colon, ended up in the hospital and had a nephrostomy and colostomy for awhile until he healed. The upshot of that was that a couple of coaches and (I think) an assistant principal got fired. The boys responsible were remanded to juvenile court, which made a lot of people mad since they were 16 and 17 at the time and could have been charged as adults.

This kind of thing is unfortunately rampant and needs to be stopped.

[Midnight Writer]

5. The coaches can use the "Gym Jordan" defense: We weren't in the room, we didn't see it.

[thucythucy]

6. Somehow I knew even before reading the article

that "high school team hazing" meant football.

Not that this doesn't happen in other sports, but somehow football is more often the sport in question.

And when crimes like this are committed, adults often rush to defend "the team."

I really have to wonder at how central competitive sports are in American education.

[left-of-center2012]

7. Can cause physical damage

This has happened a number of times here in New Mexico.

In one case a boy's intestines were so damaged he has to use a colostomy bag for the rest of his life.

[RockRaven]

8. Take everyone who knew about this and said/did nothing and...

throw 'em into a volcano. I don't want to hear excuses, regrets, whatever. Into the volcano with the lot of you!

[Delphinus]

21. I hear you.

[Auggie]

9. Heinous acts, worthy of long prison sentences

[JudyM]

11. Depraved indifference, sadistic pleasure.

Also football team seniors as untouchable alpha males.

Toxic masculinity is written all over this.

[Dawson Leery]

12. This was a "tradition" in Trumbull (CT) High School...

until one kid say enough.

"Hazing Scandal At High School Horrifies Town in Connecticut"
https://www.nytimes.com/2000/02/25/nyregion/hazing-scandal-at-high-school-horrifies-town-in-connecticut.html

"A HAZING TURNED HATEFUL IN TRUMBULL?"
https://www.courant.com/news/connecticut/hc-xpm-2000-03-02-0003020021-story.html

[PoliticAverse]

13. Is there a criminal investigation? I'm pretty sure sexual assualt is a violation of criminal law. n/

[GopherGal]

17. For a similar case in Maryland, the school system's attorney is claiming it's not sexual assault

[link:https://www.democraticunderground.com/10564871|]

“This is a male-on-male incident. There is no indication that this was motivated by sexual desire,” an attorney for Montgomery County’s public schools told U.S. District Judge Peter Messitte. “They weren’t yelling sexual slurs about maybe homosexuality or things like that.”

I am pleased to report that the judge wasn't buying it:

His reasoning was rejected by the court. ... “I don’t buy that argument at all,” Messitte said from the bench. “As a matter of law, I’m not prepared to say that this is not sexual.”

[bpj62]

22. Damascus High School

I lived in the area and followed that case closely. The coach initially denied knowing anything about the haxing ritual to which I immediately called BS. The varsity program was a perennial state champion at the highest level in Maryland. A coach at a program like that knows everything that is going on in the freshman and jv teams because that is where his players are coming from. The parents of the Varsity players all denied knowledge of it and they defended the coach. The parents valued the success of the program over the safety of the younger players. Eventually enough evidence came up and the coach was fired.
I played High School football and this kind of thing didn't happen. The coaches were in thier offices with the doors open until all the players were done showering and had dressed and left the locker room. It boggles my mind that people think that sodomizing someone with a broom handle is not srxual assault.

[bpj62]

23. Damascus High School

I lived in the area and followed that case closely. The coach initially denied knowing anything about the hazing ritual to which I immediately called BS. The varsity program was a perennial state champion at the highest level in Maryland. A coach at a program like that knows everything that is going on in the freshman and jv teams because that is where his players are coming from. The parents of the Varsity players all denied knowledge of it and they defended the coach. The parents valued the success of the program over the safety of the younger players. Eventually enough evidence came up and the coach was fired.
I played High School football and this kind of thing didn't happen. The coaches were in thier offices with the doors open until all the players were done showering and had dressed and left the locker room. It boggles my mind that people think that sodomizing someone with a broom handle is not srxual assault.

[IronLionZion]

14. Time for some less rapey traditions guys

[LiberalFighter]

15. Every state high school athletic association should require...

that any hazing in a high school will forfeit all competition for two full seasons. And require the high school to post prominently why they couldn't compete.

[DemocraticPatriot]

16. Just SICK...

This is their "welcome to the team" ??!!


Throw the book at the lot of them, ESPECIALLY the adults who were aware, and allowed it to happen repeatedly.

[OldBaldy1701E]

18. Well

Rape is a "tradition"?

*looks back over recorded history*

Yeah... kinda...

[flying_wahini]

19. You know women wouldn't just overlook it. What the deal with the coaches overlooking it?

Don’t shoot me, just asking.

[milestogo]

20. The perpetrators are probably minors.

But I don't doubt that everyone at that school or in that town knows who they are.

So at least informally they will be known as sex offenders. What a nice way to start your life.

[Progressive Jones]

24. The dateline says "Chicago", but this is in Plainfield, IL. Hastert Country. Remember him?

Old town 45-50 miles from Chicago. Suburban sprawl put it on the map.

[ProfessorGAC]

27. Big Now!

When I was a kid, my uncle lived there.
There were under 2 thousand people living there.
Today, the population is a bit over 43,000!
About 25 fold growth in 55 years.
They're landlocked now, so there's only a little open land to the north for continued population growth. The growth rate will slow dramatically.
This whole county got huge.
Went from under 200k to 700k in around 35 years.
The city where we both grew up had 63,000 when we got married. (1980). There are 160,000 there now!

[Kaleva]

25. Those who served in the Navy may remember the tradition of greasing

The lucky ones got their ass crack smeared with grease, sometimes mixed with coffee grounds, and the unlucky sailors got the business end of a grease gun stuck up their ass and received several pumps of grease internally.