Warren De La Salle players run across the field to celebrate winning the MHSAA Division 2 championship after defeating Livonia Franklin 42-6 at the Ford Field in Detroit, Friday, Nov. 24, 2017. (Photo: Junfu Han, Detroit Free Press)
Three suspended football players from Warren De La Salle sued their high school Monday, claiming they were unfairly kicked out of school amid a hazing scandal and blackmailed by school officials into implicating 10 other students if they wanted to be reinstated.
The accused students — who are all minorities — refused to “turn over names,” the lawsuit claims, and have been out of school for 46 days, with two of them in jeopardy of not graduating.
Moreover, the lawsuit accuses DLS officials of engaging in racial discrimination, claiming 10 white football players are under investigation in the hazing scandal, but are still in school.
The lawsuit, first reported by Fox 2, was filed on behalf of three minority football players who were suspended in November for allegedly holding a younger player face down on the locker room floor while one of them sexually taunted and prodded him with a broomstick. There was no penetration.
The hazing allegation surfaced in late October and prompted the school to abruptly end the football team’s season on the eve of playoffs.The all-boys Catholic school, which has won three state championships in the last five years, turned the case over to the Warren police, which has requested that assault and battery charges be filed against the three accused students.
The St. Clair County Prosecutor’s office is currently reviewing the warrant request for possible charges.
De La Salle, which has previously claimed that hazing is a deep-rooted and historic problem at the all-boys Catholic high school, declined comment on the lawsuit, stating: “We cannot comment on legal matters.”
But in a statement released Monday afternoon, it addressed the hazing allegations:
“Since we were first made aware of the hazing activities, we have been steadfast in maintaining the safety, health and education of all De La Salle students as our top priority while we navigate this troubling issue,” the statement reads. ” We have been working in full collaboration with our Board of Trustees and the Christian Brothers on all actions in response to the hazing allegations and will continue to do so as we address this lawsuit. Our hearts and prayers are with those impacted by the hazing, particularly the students who were victimized and their families.”
Related:
Prosecutor: I don’t need victim to charge De La Salle hazing suspects
3 De La Salle football players suspended in hazing scandal; police to seek charges
‘They know nothing ‘
According to police, the three suspended players and a dozen of their teammates are not cooperating. Neither is the alleged victim, they said, noting the teen boy has refused to talk and doesn’t want charges brought.
The three students were suspended on Nov. 4, but their parents were never given details as to why, the suit claims. They were only told in a telephone call that their sons’ names were “mentioned in an investigation,” but nothing else, the suit claims.
Then came pressure for the accused to talk, the suit states.
During the suspension, the administration sent the three accused athletes a list of 10 white football players, and asked them to confirm that they were all involved in hazing, the lawsuit claims. The list of names was sent by text, to the parents of the accused.
But the students “refused to be blackmailed into returning to school,” the lawsuit claims.
“They have been singled out by this administration as the only ones involved in what President Knight has declared to be systemic, deep-rooted activity. Yet my three are the only ones being proclaimed the poster child for it? That’s flatly wrong,” said attorney Paul Addis, who is representing the three suspended students and their families.
Addis, a 1993 De La Salle graduate who also played football there, said he doesn’t believe that hazing is deep-rooted at De La Salle, as administrators have claimed.
“If there’s this pervasive thing going on, there would be video. If this is a deep-rooted systemic problem, why isn’t there anything out there? It’s just unbelievable, unconscionable,” Addis said of the treatment of his clients.
When asked why the three accused students refused to implicate the 10 white students in the hazing scandal, Addis said:
“They were appalled by the insinuation that they would know something, They know nothing,” Addis said, adding his clients cooperated in an independent investigation launched by the school and denied pinning anyone to a floor and prodding them with a broom and sexual taunts.
“They have flatly denied it to the independent investigator. We don’t even know who the (alleged victim) is,” Addis said. “This has got me so furious. To be treated this way by this administration is just beyond my comprehension.”
Police request charges
The lawsuit accuses De La Salle of defaming three football players by allegedly pushing a false narrative that portrays the students as aggressive bullies. It also accuses the school of unlawfully keeping the boys out of school, preventing them from graduating, and subjecting them to racial discrimination.
Meanwhile, St. Clair County Prosecutor Michael Wendling is expected to make a decision soon as to whether to charge the three accused football players. He told the Free Press last month that the suspects could be still be charged, even if the victim won’t talk.
“That is not a determining factor for our office going forward,” Wendling has previously said. “If there’s a crime and we can prove it, and we feel that charges are justified, we will go forward.”
If the case did go forward, it would be based largely on the testimony of witnesses — in this case, football players who allegedly witnessed the hazing.
According to police, about 65 people have been interviewed so far, including 59 players and six school officials, including coaches.
According to Warren Police Commissioner Bill Dwyer, “The coach indicated he had no knowledge whatsoever about the incident and that he wouldn’t tolerate it,” Dwyer said of head coach Mike Giannone.
Giannone has declined comment.
The police investigation started on the same day that the DLS football team was supposed to play in the playoffs. But in a blow to the Pilots, the school forfeited the game the night before because of hazing allegations that surfaced midweek, ending the season.
Parents were notified in an email that went out on Halloween.
“We have recently discovered a series of hazing incidents conducted by several players on our varsity team,” the email stated. “And many players on the team appear to have been aware of such hazing but failed to report it.”
In a follow-up news release, De La Salle said “the hazing has deeper roots, and is more pervasive than originally thought.”
De La Salle President John Knight has said ending the team’s season wasn’t an easy decision, but there was no other choice.
“It became clear to us that the right thing to do was to live by what we say we are: ‘Builders of Boys, Makers of Men,’ and to not play the game under this cloud and under these troubling issues we are looking at,” Knight previously said. “What makes this decision heart-wrenching is that we are aware of the fact that there are young men who are suffering and were not involved in this situation.”
Contact Tresa Baldas: tbaldas@freepress.com
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