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Teammates assaulted Freshman with Broom on 'No Gay Thursday'
Teammates Accused of Raping Freshman on 'No Gay Thursday'
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Three 17-year-old high school football players are accused of assaulting a teammate with a broom handle in the locker room on “No Gay Thursday,” reports the Associated Press.
Now the coach at Conestoga High School, John Vogan, has been suspended by the school district located in suburban Philadelphia while it investigates. The Chester County district attorney announced charges against the students and called out the coaching staff for a “shocking lack of supervision.”
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“Kids reported that the victim was yelling and screaming,” said the DA, Tom Hogan, in a news conference, “but he did not have a friend in that locker room.”
The Associated Press reports that the three students face charges of assault, conspiracy, unlawful restraint, and terroristic threats. But Hogan isn’t charging them with sexual assault, the AP reports, because “the law requires a motive of sexual gratification, which was not the case here.”
The 14-year-old victim, a freshman, was reportedly resented by teammates for being on the varsity team. “No Gay Thursday” is being described as a team tradition when sexual harassment that players would normally call “gay” was deemed fine and then used to taunt each other.
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READ MORE: http://www.advocate.com/sports/2016/...o-gay-thursday
High school football coach resigns over 'No Gay Thursday' hazing in which freshman boy was assaulted with broomstick
- Three senior players at a top high school in Philadelphia were charged
- Assault was apparently carried out as part of weekly 'No Gay Thursday'
- 'Tradition' sees students carry out sexually-suggestive acts on each other
- The head football coach, John Vogan, has resigned over the allegations
Football coach John Vogan (pictured) who was suspended from all coaching duties
pending the outcome of the investigation has now resigned
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Conestoga is among the most highly ranked schools academically in Pennsylvania.
Vogan was suspended initially an investigation took place into the ordeal in which the 14-year-old boy is said to have screamed.
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Chester County District Attorney Tom Hogan said.there was no evidence the coaching staff were aware of the assault on the 14-year-old or the team's hazing culture because coaches typically stayed out of the locker room.
'This was generally upperclassmen doing this to the underclassmen. Bigger kids doing it to smaller kids. Hazing,' he said.
Mr Vogan has previously said he will not comment on the incident.
The suspects were charged as juveniles with assault, conspiracy, unlawful restraint, terroristic threats and other offenses.
They will not face sexual assault charges because the law requires a motive of sexual gratification, which was not the case here, Hogan said.
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Authorities said the assault occurred after underclassmen were told to strip to their underwear and clean the team locker room at the school in Berwyn, about 25 miles northwest of Philadelphia.
The 14-year-old stripped to his boxers, but when he decided he wanted no further part of it and tried to leave the locker room, he was blocked, held down and attacked, the prosecutor said.
The 14-year-old was 'arrogant' about making the varsity team, and that rankled the older players, Hogan said.
'It just happened to be a perfect storm of this 'No Gay Thursday' tradition and them not liking this freshman and taking it out on him in a pretty horrible way,' he said.
'No Gay Thursdays' was a tradition started by the football team at least three or four years ago, in which behavior the team normally considered to be 'gay' was considered 'not gay' on Thursdays, Hogan said.
Older players would come up behind younger players and put their genitals atop the younger players' heads, among other sexually explicit or suggestive acts, the prosecutor said.
He said the players also had a tradition of what they called 'blessing each other,' in which a student, with his hand spread wide, would hit another player on the backside or back with such force it would leave a five-fingered mark.
Some players would avoid the locker room on Thursdays, and some quit altogether because of the hazing, Hogan said.
Hazing is a crime in Pennsylvania, but it applies only to colleges, not high schools.
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READ MORE: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...#ixzz43Goo6ctC
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