Massachusetts High School in Turmoil Over ‘Disgusting’ Hazing Video
A group of Massachusetts high school football players and their coaches have been suspended, and the school’s entire football season canned, after a deeply disturbing hazing incident was captured in a viral video.
Police now say they anticipate filing criminal charges against some of the Haverhill High School teammates, some of whom are over 18 years old.
In the video, obtained by Boston 25 News, three Haverhill students—one of them wearing a Haverhill football shirt—can be seen dragging a reported freshman across the floor and stripping his clothes off. Then, a fourth teammate wearing only underwear straddles his head and commits a lewd act.
“We are working with the school on identifying others, as multiple people were involved,” Haverhill Police Chief Robert Pistone said Thursday. “We are conversing with the DA’s office and we do anticipate the appropriate charges will be forthcoming.”
On Wednesday, the school said a number of students had been suspended, the rest of the football season had been canceled, and members of the coaching staff had been put on paid administrative leave. All future practices were canned, and every upcoming game would be forfeited, the school said.
“I have seen the videos and they are disgusting,” Mayor James Fiorentini added in a statement Wednesday. “The players directly involved in these disgusting incidents should be immediately removed from the team and never be allowed to play high school football. There is no place on our teams or on any team for disgusting hazing such as this. Parents deserve to know when they send their kids to play high school sports that their children will be safe.”
“It’s disappointing to hear, in this day and age– kids will be kids occasionally but this is a little ridiculous,” Carl Rizzo, a father of a student not involved in the incident, said to WHDH 7 News Boston. “It’s concerning. You worry about your kids every day and you hope that they can just show up to school and be in a safe environment, and it’s unfortunate that this stuff still happens.”
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