|
 Central Bucks School District Superintendent David Weitzel said in
a statement to district parents that an investigation turned up
multiple “humiliating and inappropriate acts” during pre-season team
building exercises at Central Bucks West High School.
In the most serious instance, he said, one rookie player was forced
to grab another player's genitals through his clothes while other
players watched.
“I want to be clear that these activities did not result in physical
harm, but were not harmless,” Weitzel said in the statement.
Cancellation of the program comes on the heels of a hazing incident
at Sayreville War Memorial High School in New Jersey in which seven
football players were charged with sexually abusing four freshmen.
Officials in Sayreville say they are considering suspending the
program in future years.
James Donnelly, who heads the Central Bucks Police Department, said
his department was aware of the district's internal investigation
but the conduct described to him by school officials failed to reach
a level of criminality.
There were, he said, allegations that players participated in
waterboarding.
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“It consisted of a wet towel being placed over a person's head and
walking them into the shower,” Donnelly said. “That doesn't seem to
be waterboarding to me. It's the terminology of teenagers.”
The season cancellation comes one day before the scheduled
Homecoming football game for Central Bucks West, a powerhouse team
that racked up multiple state championships in the 1990's.
(Editing by Barbara Goldberg)
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