MOBILE COUNTY, AL (WALA/CNN) – Police say four high school students will face assault charges after an apparent hazing incident in which a 14-year-old football player was beaten by about 20 of his teammates.

Furious by the response from their son’s school, Davidson High School in Mobile, AL, freshman Rodney Kim Jr.’s parents are suing the school district and pressing charges against all the assailants.

“He could’ve been paralyzed. He could’ve been killed,” said Rodney Kim Sr., the boy’s father.

Three students, all under the age of 18, have already been charged with third-degree assault related to the incident. Police are searching for a fourth student wanted on the same charge.

Police say the younger Kim, who had just gotten promoted to the varsity team, stated that after practice on April 27, the team was headed to the locker room, and one of the leaders of the team pushed him to the floor.

That’s when cell phone video shows about 20 other upperclassmen started hitting, kicking and physically jumping on top of the 14-year-old.

That afternoon, the freshman’s parents got a call he’d been hurt at practice. Before taking their son to the hospital, they quickly figured out what happened.

The 14-year-old has a busted lip, bruises and a broken arm. He had surgery on his arm on Wednesday.

Now, the teenager’s parents are demanding action against the teens in the video. They also say they want head coach Fred Riley and his staff fired because they believe Riley knew about the apparent hazing tradition.

“You are teaching the kids now to be a coward because that’s what you were doing in this situation,” the elder Kim said.

The parents are also expressing frustration with the school system, including long time Davidson principal Lewis Copeland, who had already announced his retirement before this incident.

Superintendent Martha Peek is also retiring soon. The family says it took almost a week for her to reach out to them.

In a press conference last week, Peek said coaches were nearby when the assault happened.

“All of them were in close proximity. When they realized that there was an increased amount of noise in the locker room area, they responded,” she said.

The elder Kim disputes Peek’s claim.

“Excuse me, but that’s a lie. My child never encountered a coach until he was helped off the floor by a couple of other freshmen that are his friends and stumbled out of the field house, and that’s when he bumped into the quarterbacks’ coach coming around the corner. No coaches were ever in the vicinity,” he said.

The younger Kim’s parents say their $12 million lawsuit against the school district will also ask for the team to forfeit the upcoming football season.

The Mobile County District Attorney says her plan is to prosecute as many of the students in the video as possible.

Copyright 2018 WALA via CNN. All rights reserved.

MOBILE COUNTY, AL (WALA/CNN) – Police say four high school students will face assault charges after an apparent hazing incident in which a 14-year-old football player was beaten by about 20 of his teammates.

Furious by the response from their son’s school, Davidson High School in Mobile, AL, freshman Rodney Kim Jr.’s parents are suing the school district and pressing charges against all the assailants.

“He could’ve been paralyzed. He could’ve been killed,” said Rodney Kim Sr., the boy’s father.

Three students, all under the age of 18, have already been charged with third-degree assault related to the incident. Police are searching for a fourth student wanted on the same charge.

Police say the younger Kim, who had just gotten promoted to the varsity team, stated that after practice on April 27, the team was headed to the locker room, and one of the leaders of the team pushed him to the floor.

That’s when cell phone video shows about 20 other upperclassmen started hitting, kicking and physically jumping on top of the 14-year-old.

That afternoon, the freshman’s parents got a call he’d been hurt at practice. Before taking their son to the hospital, they quickly figured out what happened.

The 14-year-old has a busted lip, bruises and a broken arm. He had surgery on his arm on Wednesday.

Now, the teenager’s parents are demanding action against the teens in the video. They also say they want head coach Fred Riley and his staff fired because they believe Riley knew about the apparent hazing tradition.

“You are teaching the kids now to be a coward because that’s what you were doing in this situation,” the elder Kim said.

The parents are also expressing frustration with the school system, including long time Davidson principal Lewis Copeland, who had already announced his retirement before this incident.

Superintendent Martha Peek is also retiring soon. The family says it took almost a week for her to reach out to them.

In a press conference last week, Peek said coaches were nearby when the assault happened.

“All of them were in close proximity. When they realized that there was an increased amount of noise in the locker room area, they responded,” she said.

The elder Kim disputes Peek’s claim.

“Excuse me, but that’s a lie. My child never encountered a coach until he was helped off the floor by a couple of other freshmen that are his friends and stumbled out of the field house, and that’s when he bumped into the quarterbacks’ coach coming around the corner. No coaches were ever in the vicinity,” he said.

The younger Kim’s parents say their $12 million lawsuit against the school district will also ask for the team to forfeit the upcoming football season.

The Mobile County District Attorney says her plan is to prosecute as many of the students in the video as possible.

Copyright 2018 WALA via CNN. All rights reserved.

MOBILE COUNTY, AL (WALA/CNN) – Police say four high school students will face assault charges after an apparent hazing incident in which a 14-year-old football player was beaten by about 20 of his teammates.

Furious by the response from their son’s school, Davidson High School in Mobile, AL, freshman Rodney Kim Jr.’s parents are suing the school district and pressing charges against all the assailants.

“He could’ve been paralyzed. He could’ve been killed,” said Rodney Kim Sr., the boy’s father.

Three students, all under the age of 18, have already been charged with third-degree assault related to the incident. Police are searching for a fourth student wanted on the same charge.

Police say the younger Kim, who had just gotten promoted to the varsity team, stated that after practice on April 27, the team was headed to the locker room, and one of the leaders of the team pushed him to the floor.

That’s when cell phone video shows about 20 other upperclassmen started hitting, kicking and physically jumping on top of the 14-year-old.

That afternoon, the freshman’s parents got a call he’d been hurt at practice. Before taking their son to the hospital, they quickly figured out what happened.

The 14-year-old has a busted lip, bruises and a broken arm. He had surgery on his arm on Wednesday.

Now, the teenager’s parents are demanding action against the teens in the video. They also say they want head coach Fred Riley and his staff fired because they believe Riley knew about the apparent hazing tradition.

“You are teaching the kids now to be a coward because that’s what you were doing in this situation,” the elder Kim said.

The parents are also expressing frustration with the school system, including long time Davidson principal Lewis Copeland, who had already announced his retirement before this incident.

Superintendent Martha Peek is also retiring soon. The family says it took almost a week for her to reach out to them.

In a press conference last week, Peek said coaches were nearby when the assault happened.

“All of them were in close proximity. When they realized that there was an increased amount of noise in the locker room area, they responded,” she said.

The elder Kim disputes Peek’s claim.

“Excuse me, but that’s a lie. My child never encountered a coach until he was helped off the floor by a couple of other freshmen that are his friends and stumbled out of the field house, and that’s when he bumped into the quarterbacks’ coach coming around the corner. No coaches were ever in the vicinity,” he said.

The younger Kim’s parents say their $12 million lawsuit against the school district will also ask for the team to forfeit the upcoming football season.

The Mobile County District Attorney says her plan is to prosecute as many of the students in the video as possible.

Copyright 2018 WALA via CNN. All rights reserved.

Four Davidson High School (Mobile, Alabama) football players have been suspended following an alleged hazing incident that left a freshman player battered and beaten with a broken arm in the middle of a locker room floor.

Rodney Kim Jr., a 14-year-old quarterback, suffered a broken arm, busted lip and bruises on his back after he was attacked after practice last week.

“He broke his radial bone in his forearm. His physician was able to realign his radial bone,” Mary Kim, Rodney’s mother, told ABC News in an interview. “He’s been complaining of headaches so we took him to the hospital today, because we think he may have a concussion.”

In a leaked video captured by a cell phone, Kim appears to have been shoved to the locker room floor before being pounded by several players, punched and kicked for several seconds as a large group of teammates look on.

According to AL.com, the details from the incident are disturbing:

Solis confirmed in the e-mail to AL.com that the victim stated he was headed to the locker room and one of the leaders of the team pushed him into the locker room and about 20 other upperclassmen started hitting, kicking and physically jumping on top of him after practice. Davidson head coach Fred Riley, who has been the head coach of the Warriors for the past 14 years, said he could not comment on the incident. Davidson is in the middle of spring football practice and is scheduled to play a spring game at Baldwin County on May 18.

Kim’s parents first learned of the incident after the video was sent to Kim’s sister, ABC News reports.

In a written statement from the Mobile Police Department, Chief of Police Lawrence Battiste wrote, “The Mobile Police Department is aware of the incident that occurred at Davidson High School on April 27, 2018 where a 14-year-old male student was assaulted by several teammates in the locker room after practice. We are actively investigating to determine all individuals responsible for causing the student to sustain a broken arm injury.

“Today, we received the social media video post of the incident and it is being reviewed. Once the investigation has concluded, we will provide an update on those arrested and the charges.”

The injured freshman football player is expected to make a full recovery physically, but his mental state has been altered, his mother says. Those involved in the incident haven’t yet been charged.

Months after a local high school football player was allegedly beaten savagely by four of his teammates, the city of Blue Earth is still reeling.

Public officials in the southern Minnesota town of 3,400 residents near the Iowa border don’t want to talk about what happened. Community members fear for their jobs if they take sides.

Meanwhile, in an interview last week, the father of the 16-year-old victim said that his family is leaving Blue Earth for good and moving out of state.

“My kid was a victim,” Dale Hurley said by phone as he drove to a job interview in Nebraska. “My son is a victim of an assault, I don’t care how you slice it. And here we have to move away from his home to be safe.

“I’m pissed. Really pissed.”

Many in town were stunned in November after learning that four Blue Earth Area football players were being charged with criminal felonies in the alleged assault on their teammate after the team’s final regular-season game a month earlier. The four attackers allegedly beat their victim unconscious at a house party, filmed the attack on a cellphone and showed it to him the next day, according to court records. They also showed it to other students and team members.

The victim suffered a concussion and missed several weeks of school. When he returned, his father said, some students harassed and mocked him over the incident, while some of his assailants followed him around in an attempt to intimidate him.

Tonya Hurley, the victim’s mother, took a leave of absence from her job as a paraprofessional at a local school. With their son at the center of a major scandal involving the school district, it was just too awkward to remain in town, Dale Hurley said.

Adding to the family’s difficulties — the house party where Hurley’s son was beaten took place at the home of Dale Hurley’s boss.

“It’s been impossible to work with her,” he said of his supervisor. “She and I had words. It has made work very uncomfortable.”

A relative of a boy at the party who wasn’t charged in the case followed Dale Hurley home recently and “asked me if I know what I’m doing,” Dale Hurley said. “I said ‘I do.’ And he said, ‘I don’t think you do.’

“And then he asked me if I had an attorney. Just a bulldog attempt to intimidate me.”

Community mum

In a small, tight-knit community the size of Blue Earth, those intersecting relationships are everywhere, which has made the situation even more complicated.

Four school board members declined to address the issue last week — two didn’t return repeated calls, and two others said they didn’t want to comment. A City Council member also didn’t return repeated calls.

Other community members also declined to discuss the incident, fearing for their jobs or the jobs of family members.

The parents of the alleged attackers, meanwhile, have made public pleas for leniency for their sons.

At a school board meeting earlier this month, the parents of three of the students facing charges complained that their sons were being treated too harshly by the school district in the wake of the attack. The alleged attackers were suspended from school for 10 days and barred from playing sports.

Mayor Rick Scholtes said last week that the best thing for everyone would be to leave Blue Earth alone to deal with the issues itself.

“The articles you guys are writing are making it worse,” he told a reporter. “Because as a community, we’re trying to heal and put this behind us. That’s how I feel and that’s how I think it’s affected the community.

“We just need to let it work its course and be done.”

Scholtes said Blue Earth is being unfairly scrutinized for events that have probably played out in other communities, as well.

“To me, these things happen everywhere, probably, and why are we being singled out?” he asked. “The negative publicity is hurting our community more than anything, and it drives a spike between both sides.

“For me, you have a few kids who made wrong choices, but the rest of the community is still a great place to live.”

Not for the Hurleys, who are reluctantly uprooting themselves from a place that they say always felt like home.

“This has approached a new level of low,” Dale Hurley said. “I get so angry sometimes. I’ve been quiet because I didn’t want to get fired from my job before I had another one.

“But it’s insane the mess it’s caused for us.”