The episode occurred in June at California State University (CSU) Sacramento, where the junior varsity and varsity teams were attending a weeklong summer camp with other teams from around the state.
According to witnesses, who wish to remain anonymous, the incident – which occurred on June 27 – involved an assault on several members of the JV team, at least one of whom was held down by varsity players while another tried to insert a stick of Icy Hot muscle balm into his rectum. The victim managed to escape. No serious injuries were reported.
Brentwood Police Sgt. Tim Herbert, whose team has been assisting the CSU campus police in its investigation, said the players might eventually face criminal charges, but since the investigation is still underway he couldn’t specify what the charges might be.
Herbert said his department was contacted by Liberty High School authorities on June 29, two days after the incident. He said that when he contacted CSU to let them know he would be forwarding a report, his impression was that the campus police had no knowledge of the event. Herbert added that the Brentwood end of the investigation was completed this week and that a copy of the report was on its way to the CSU police.
“What they do now is up to them (CSU police),” said Herbert, who added that it appeared at least 15 boys were involved in the incident. “The question becomes: does it rise to the level of a criminal offense? And that is up to the DA to decide.”
Liberty High School Principal Pat Walsh said he met this week with several of the alleged perpetrators’ parents, who asked him to reverse the decision to permanently remove the students from the team.
“I reviewed the facts and decided that the initial decision made by the coach was the correct one,” said Walsh. “I think the important part of the message is that we have an expectation that our students will behave a certain way, and they didn’t do that … I support the coach’s decision to remove them.”
But parents of the victims are not satisfied with the school’s decision to merely kick the players off the team. They also want to see varsity football coach Nate Smith fired for his handling of the incident.
“This is flat-out hazing,” said the parent of one player who was present at the outset of the incident but not targeted. “I don’t want my kid under (Smith’s) care.”
Smith said he was unable to comment on the situation. “I can’t offer any of the specifics at this time,” he said, “because we are still in the process of meeting with the families.”
According to Liberty Union High School District Superintendent Eric Volta, Smith adhered to protocol following the incident and filed a report with campus police. Volta said Smith also notified the parents of the players involved.
“Right now I am looking at the way Liberty is handling this and I am confident they are taking appropriate and fair action to all the families involved,” said Volta. “This is one of those difficult, lousy situations that no matter what happens, people will be unhappy, so we just have to do what we feel is the right and lawful and appropriate thing to do. And I think that is what everyone has done.”
Im sure the brentwood parents can afford their lawyer. Brentwood parents seem to give there kids nice cell phones and nice cars. This transitions to them acting what ever way they want. Doesnt surprise me.
Kids make mistakes and these kids made a big one! They need to learn that hazing, bullying, or any other similar conduct has no place in the school setting or in our community! To remove Coach Smith is just another way of deferring the blame. Coach Smith handled the situation with integrity, respect and care. Traits that these bullies need to learn! Stop creating scapegoats! We as a community need to stand behind Coach Smith and his decision!
It is not at all obvious that hs team does not support Coach Smith. It is clear, however, that you have reasons to dislike him. Pointing to his win.loss record evisorates your credibility on a serious issue such as this. Coming down hard on these kids (one of whom you freely admit having a personal relationship with) was the right thing for Coach to do, despite the likely competitive step backward his team will endure.
The less that parents and observers like you have to do with High School coaching staff decisions the better. There is always someone who isn't getting the playing time you think they deserve, and always issues that you either don't understand or agree with. When you and your ilk start rounding up a posse to run a coach out of town you actually start to convince yourselves that wining HS games is the point of HS sports. It s not! We are trying to teach hard work, teamwork, competitiveness, and honor; traits that will serve our youth for the rest of their lives. People like you losing track of the goals of HS sports is the biggest problem that coaches and players face in HS sports.
I suggest we allow the administration time and space to take the appropriate actions. As we saw in the Heritage goat cruelty incident, the district is very willing to do the right thing despite small, but vocal, opposition.
And as easy as it is to blame the parents, thus far it appears they are not fighting and cawing to defend what appears to be reprehensible behavior by their children. Good for them! Kids do make mistakes, and parents and coaches should provide positive modeling and good 'coaching' to the best of their ability, but let's not presume to cast ultimate responsibility for horrible acts by kids on all the adults around them unless you are ready to step up and be accountable for the kid you know.
They messed up. They are being punished. Thank goodness no one was more seriously injured and kudos to the parents for not coming out against the punishments.
Volta is doing a great job!
What happened to player was wrong and I pray for the player and his family, this should be our concern and not firing Coach Smith or anyone else.
The young men in question can use this as a learning experience it might save them more heartache in the future. I will pray for them and hope they do great things in the future. This is only one incident in their lives, they can move past this if they choose.