WHEATON – Attorneys for the five Wheaton College football players charged in a 2016 hazing incident in which a freshman player allegedly was attacked, bound with tape and left in a field are subpoenaing the victim’s medical records.
The players – Kyler Kregel of Grand Rapids, Mich.; James Cooksey of Jacksonville, Fla.; Samuel TeBos of Allendale, Mich.; Noah Spielman of Columbus, Ohio; and Benjamin Pettway of Lookout Mount, Ga. – have been charged with aggravated battery, mob action and unlawful restraint. Spielman is the son of former NFL player Chris Spielman.
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The next hearing on the case is set for March 14, but DuPage County Judge Brian Telander is not requiring they attend the hearing. The records being subpoenaed including those from a orthopedic doctor in Fort Wayne, Ind., the victim saw at one time.
At about 11:20 p.m. March 19, 2016, Wheaton police officers responded to Northwestern Medicine Central DuPage Hospital in Winfield regarding an incident that involved members of the Wheaton College football team.
The victim reported receiving serious injuries when he was attacked by five members of the team and left in a field with his limbs secured with tape.
“He was attacked by the suspects in a dorm room where he was subdued with tape,” Wheaton Deputy Police Chief William Murphy previously said in an email. “His arms and legs were bound and a hood placed over his head. During this [time] his shoulders were injured. They dropped him off in a nearby baseball field.”
A second person also was hazed as part of the incident but chose not to press charges, Murphy said.
Wheaton College previously had released a statement saying it was “deeply troubled” by the allegations, The college revised its anti-hazing policy in 2014 and improved its training protocols to “include a formal review of our anti-hazing policy with all student athletes every year, with required student signatures,” the statement read.