Four De La Salle football players charged with misdemeanor assault

Four students at De La Salle Collegiate high school were formally charged Monday with misdemeanor assault and battery following a renewed investigation by police and prosecutors into alleged hazing involving players on the football team.

Arraigned by video link between the 37th District Court and the Warren Police Department lockup were: Michael Anthony Young, 18, and 17-year-old Galiko Tyreese Lovelace, both of Sterling Heights; Ricky Dwayne Pearson, 18, of Eastpointe; and Sean Vanard Bonery, 18, of Warren. Not-guilty pleas were entered on their behalf by Judge Matthew Sabaugh, who permitted them to be released on personal recognizance bonds pending upcoming pre-trial hearings.

All four are seniors and expect to graduate from the all-boys Catholic school in Warren this spring.

Lovelace’s attorney, Jack Kramer, described him as “a good kid” who did nothing wrong.

“Truthfully, I feel bad for my client having been dragged through this ordeal,” Kramer said. “He denies assaulting anyone. He denies any hazing.”

The four students are the first of seven expected to be charged in connection with alleged “broomsticking,” as described by De La Salle officials, in which players were held down by teammates and poked in the thighs and buttocks by a different player holding a broomstick. Warren police say no penetration or injuries occurred.

After initial, separate investigations by police and the St. Clair County Prosecutor’s Office spanning four months, St. Clair Prosecutor Michael Wendling initially announced in late January no criminal charges would be filed. However, Wendling at the time said he was confident a crime had occurred but claimed evidence had been lost or stolen and criticized the school officials who refused to be interviewed.

The next day, a parent of a student contacted police alleging his son was a victim of hazing, Warren Police Commissioner William Dwyer said. A parent of a second student made a similar accusation, police added.

Last week, law enforcement officials said assault charges would be filed against seven students, including two who will be charged as juveniles.

Defense attorney Paul Addis, who represents Young and Pearson, considers it peculiar that all seven of the accused students are minorities.

“They’ve been investigating it since October. What took so long?” Addis told reporters outside the courtroom.

“My contention is there’s a 99-page police report with a lot of names in it. I just find it amazing only seven are charged and they’re all African American. I just find it coincidental, I guess,” he said.

“I think the way the investigation was handled by the (De La Salle) administration is unconscionable.”

“I think this investigation was tainted from the beginning,” Kramer said, adding he could not say whether Lovelace was interviewed by Warren police or anyone at the St. Clair County Prosecutor’s Office.

Pearson is the only defendant of the four arraigned Monday who was charged with two counts of assault and battery. At least one of his accusers is black. The other three suspects face one count, punishable by up to 90 days in jail.

Bonery had retained an attorney but she abruptly withdrew for an unspecified conflict of interest, officials said. Addis agreed to step in to represent him at Monday’s hearing as Bonery’s mother expects to hire another lawyer.

It’s not yet certain how the charges against the four will impact their status as students.

Last December, the school suspended three students – including Pearson – for more than 45 days as the investigation by police and prosecutors continued. All three filed a lawsuit against De La Salle, school administrators and its board of directors, claiming they were unfairly banned from classes. They later withdrew their lawsuit as part of an agreement with school officials to allow the trio to return to the classroom.

Addis represented the trio in that civil case. He told The Macomb Daily Monday one of the other two plaintiffs is a junior who is one of the two teens expected to be charged with assault in Macomb County Juvenile Court. His third client in the civil case is not facing criminal charges, he said.

After the hazing allegations surfaced last fall, De La Salle President John Knight in October abruptly cancelled the rest of the two-time defending state champions’ season on the eve of the state high school football playoffs. The cancellation and the suspension of coach Mike Giannone sparked an uproar in the De La Salle community, including students, parents and alumni. Giannone was later fired, and assistant coaches who did not have other employment roles at the school also were terminated.

Both defense attorneys Monday said the accusations could impact the futures of the four teens.

Young, a co-captain on the team, has a 3.0 grade point average and has committed to play football at Eastern Illinois, said Addis. Pearson has compiled a 3.6 GPA at De La Salle, is a member of the National Honor Society, president of the Black Students Association at De La Salle and has committed to continue his gridiron play at Albion College, Addis told Judge Matthew Sabaugh.

Sabaugh ordered all four defendants to have no contact with the alleged victims, commit no assaults and – with one exception – not leave Michigan. Pearson will be allowed to leave the state for a family vacation in Florida.

The four defendants are expected to return for district court for a pre-trial hearing, although no dates were immediately set.

A fifth student is expected to be charged as an adult on Tuesday.

Addis said it could take weeks before the two suspects slated to be charged as juveniles will be notified to appear in Macomb County Juvenile Court.

According to an internal school memo to Knight and Principal Nathan Maus dated Dec. 11 –- a copy of which was obtained by The Macomb Daily — a lawyer for De La Salle reported football players were victims of “dysfunctional tradition/culture” but suffered no injuries or lasting harm. Attorney John Gierak, of the law firm Clark Hill, reported all of the seniors on the team were interviewed last fall by Assistant Principal Brent Widdows and Athletic Director Mike Watson, and that “broomsticking” had been occurring for at least four years and was varied and widespread. The hazing occurred in the locker room while no coaches were present following team dinners on Thursdays, report states.

Giannone claimed he had no knowledge of hazing, according to the internal memo.

In an interview Feb. 21 with a reporter, fired assistant coach Bob Schroeder said he doubts hazing occurred. Schroeder, who spent the last 13 years at De La Salle before he and other assistants who were not otherwise employed in other roles at the school were terminated, believes Giannone was made the “fall guy” by the school administration.