Felony charges filed against 4 Boyd High School football players over locker room hazing
Charges filed against 4 football players for hazing
Four Boyd High School students, including two varsity football players charged as adults, face felony charges after police say they violently hazed and assaulted a 14-year-old student inside a school locker room.
BOYD, Texas - Four Boyd High School students are under arrest after police said a 14-year-old student was violently hazed inside a school locker room.
Four arrested following locker room incident
What we know:
Court documents say the boy was restrained, dragged into a shower and injured while trying to escape.
Some have described the incident as "football boys being boys" in a locker room, but police said it was clearly an assault.
The locker-room hazing incident reportedly turned into an assault at Boyd High School on Thursday, Sept. 3.
Police describe physical assault
Four students, 17-year-old Chason Lee-Earl Tucker, 17-year-old Noah Davis Stevens and two juveniles are facing charges for what they allegedly did to the 14-year-old student.
What they're saying:
"He was taken into the shower area, stripped of his clothes," Boyd Police Officer Ray Cannon said.
The boy’s parents contacted the Boyd High School principal. The boy was reportedly taken against his will into the field house shower and held down by four varsity football players.
"The player’s private parts were making contact with his skin," Cannon said.
According to arrest warrants, the boy "reported that he was crying, screaming ‘No, no, no,’ and actively attempting to fight his way away from the students."
Allegations involving coaching staff
A coach heard the commotion and told the boys to "settle down," but then "walked out of the locker room," according to the warrants.
Dig deeper:
The victim later met with the coaching staff. One coach reportedly said the situation "needed to be handled in the locker room and didn’t need to be reported further up."
Police said the boy had several bruises on his "back and shoulder area" and "bruises down his spine."
"There have to be consequences," Cannon said. "We can’t let someone get away with something just because they’re in high school or because they’re younger."
Defense attorney & community reactions
Local perspective:
Attorneys for Stevens released a statement saying the situation "could have been addressed by the coaching staff."
"But here we are," the statement said. "This kind of behavior has been going on for years at this high school. Our client experienced similar locker room hijinks when he began playing football there. Context and culture matter."
"This was nothing more than four big guys picking on a smaller guy who was vulnerable," he said. "He was scared. He was not sure how long this attack was going to go on and there is no situation where this could be described as anything other than an assault."
Police said a portion of the incident was captured on security cameras from a nearby weight room.
What's next:
The students face felony charges of injury to a child causing bodily injury and unlawful restraint.
The Source: Information in this article was provided by FOX 4's David Sentendrey. Additional information was provided by previous FOX 4 coverage.