Seven New Jersey teenagers were charged on Friday in connection with a series of sexual assaults in a hazing scandal that prompted a high school to cancel the rest of its football season, the authorities said.
Six of the teenagers were taken into custody on Friday evening on charges stemming from attacks on four students in four separate encounters at Sayreville War Memorial High School, in Parlin, Andrew Carey, the Middlesex County prosecutor, said in a joint statement with Chief John Zebrowski of the Sayreville Police Department. The seventh teenager has surrendered to the police, the authorities said on Saturday.
Those charged range in age from 15 to 17. Officials withheld their identities because they are under the age of 18.
The county prosecutor said that on four separate occasions between Sept. 19 and Sept. 29, some of the suspects held the victims, who are also juveniles, against their will, while others “improperly” touched them “in a sexual manner.” One of the victims was kicked during an attack, officials said.
The school had been scheduled to play its homecoming football game on Friday night against Monroe High School. But school officials canceled the game and the rest of the season on Monday after they received complaints that older players had bullied and harassed younger ones.
Let the howling and whining begin! All weekend the TV news showed Sayreville parents up at a podium whining and complaining that Little Johnny’s rights had been violated and the parents should have been consulted. Were these parents defending the victims of sexual abuse by their peers? Oh Hell no! They were complaining because their kid couldn’t play football and the season had been cancelled.
Their main gripe seems to be that the team was punished for the actions of a view. Stop right there. These incidents too place in the locker room. You can’t have this sports program continue with the culture of sex abuse being an accepted behavior. The coach and all adults associated with this team also need to be fired. It happened on their watch.
According to thinkprogress.org, a national survey reported 80% of college athletes reported hazing as a ritualistic part of joining their team. Only 60% would provide details. There seems to be a culture of violence associated with many sports teams:
High school football players have come under fire for sexually violence in the past. In one high-profile case in Steubenville, Ohio, two football players raped and filmed a young girl, after which school administrators tried to cover up the event. And in Maryville, Ohio, a 14-year-old was assaulted and dumped on her front porch — in freezing temperatures — by an older football player.
The parents, students and athletes need to understand that hazing, violence and sexual assault are simply not acceptable forms of behavior and they will not be tolerated in our schools and universities. These offenders, if convicted, need to spend some time in jail. Hopefully they will be tried as adults. Sayreville needs to send a strong message.
When are we going to start calling hazing a form of terrorism? Adults need to play a far more mindful role in making sure kids and young adults are protected from this kind of violence.
Season over. Good. It’s about time someone used that response, especially where football is an object of worship, so to speak. Fire the coaches and the AD. These so-called adults know damned well what is going on in the locker rooms.
If they don’t know what’s going on then they are so removed they should be fired for disinterest.
I respect that the school board simply shut down the program.
Bravo, Wolve.
I saw a clip on TV of a public meeting last week where some of the parents were quite vociferously objecting to the termination decision (which I don’t think had been finally decided upon at the time). But when evil becomes so ingrained that the kids can’t even fathom that what they were doing is wrong (or at least not all THAT wrong), strong measures are required to get folks’ attention.
Waaaah. Tears and caterwauling from people who probably never saw the inside of a 1A locker room. You got six people off what’s probably a 50 man roster. Where’s the evidence? Do they not get due process? What about the kids whose only ticket out of a life of slangin crack is a full or partial athletic ride? Fu*k them I guess, the world needs ditch diggers too I suppose.
You guys should ask your wives if you can have visitation privileges with your testicles from time to time.
Won’t the kids get an extra year of sports eligibility if they don’t play this season? They can use it to study and take another year to graduate.
The 44 that weren’t charged had an obligation to protect the vulnerable and because they didn’t do the right thing I don’t have much sympathy for their loss.
I don’t know what the football guidelines are in that state. They should be ineligible. This story sickens me.
Cato – due process protects those on the team who didn’t commit crimes from being sentenced to criminal sanctions. If they weren’t involved, they won’t be convicted (and, one hopes, not charged). The issue of terminating the football program is a policy decision that relates to the attitudes and lessons that are being instilled through a program operating under the auspices of a community educational institution. I strongly believe that athletics (and music, and the arts) can have a profoundly positive educational contribution. Here, however, it was not unreasonable for administrators to conclude that the impact of this activity on the students and the community was anything but educationally positive. Why have it if it becomes a breeding ground for sexual assault?
@Cato the Elder
You apparently haven’t read the descriptions of what happened to the younger kids. They were both physically assaulted and sexually assaulted..
The behavior was not only unacceptable, it was also criminal. I am no stranger to athletics. I was a coach’s kid. I also know that coaches and athletic directors are responsible for their kids’ well-being.
I also know all about athletic programs being the ticket out of being a ditch digger. When my father died, even though he probably hadn’t coached for 50 years, all sorts of old men came to his funeral and spoke about how my father had made them make something out of themselves.
He would have also put a stop to hazing and bullying. Coaches know. They always know. Coaches shouldn’t turn a blind eye to something like that.
That season was over. Innocent people wont be punished. they just won’t be playing football til the end of the season.
what sports did you play in high school?