“Sodomized with broomsticks” and “Slapped them in the face with their genitals”
A federal lawsuit has been filed against a Chicago suburban high school that alleges members of the Lake Zurich High School football team routinely used sexual assault and acts of extreme degradation to haze teammates.
The lawsuit, filed by two of the victims, also claims coaches and administrators ignored the abuse.
GPB reported on this case back in February when the story broke in the local Chicago news market.
According to new reporting in the Chicago Tribune, never before details are starting to emerge.
Per the Chicago Tribune:
Attorney Antonio Romanucci, who represents the two victims, said the following in a press conference:
“They were brutally mocked, teased, humiliated, embarrassed and emotionally harmed, all in the name of team bonding.”
The Tribune goes on to report:
“Broadly speaking, though, the lawsuit alleges some players have urinated on other members of the team, slapped them in the face with their genitals and forced teammates to perform oral sex on each other.
Debasing acts have been part of a tradition known as “(Expletive) of the Week,” in which the names of targets were written on a prominently mounted locker room whiteboard, the lawsuit claims.”
Birthday Beat Downs
Some of the most disturbing material about what allegedly happened at Lake Zurich High School includes the following, per the lawsuit.
“(Social) pressure and bullying at such events is so severe that even unwilling participants are forced to take part in acts that are assaultive, illegal and often sexual in nature.
“Forced teammates to perform oral sex on each other”
The lawsuit claims that other acts, stretching back to 1997, have included players being stripped naked, punched in the genitals or sodomized with broomsticks.
Other teams had their own traditions within the same time period, the lawsuit alleges, from cross-country runners being duct-taped naked to a post to wrestlers punching and kicking their teammates in what was known as a ‘birthday beatdown,’” reported the Chicago Tribune.
More: My teammates raped me in my dorm
The lawsuit is asking that required, anti-hazing training occur for all district coaches, teachers and staff. The victims also want educational assemblies for students.
The lawsuit is asking for damages in excess of $50,000.
h/t: Chicago Tribune and Gaily Grind
