In other posts on our website, we have reported on the reckless, willful behavior of college fraternities and their less-than-enviable record of complying with school policies, much less the health and safety of their members. In today’s post, the sexual abuse lawyer at The Doan Law Firm personal injury lawyer reports on two recent incidents that prove that such irresponsibility isn’t limited to college campuses by discussing two high-profile cases involving sexual assaults by high school football players on their younger, more vulnerable teammates. He will then discuss the legal measures that may be available to the parents whose sons have been injured due to the negligence of coaches and school administrators.
The Problem
Although there is no published data on sexual abuse at high school football camps, two recent court cases will serve as examples of this problem.
- On January 30th 18-year-old Jabriel Williams entered a plea deal guilty plea to 3rd-degree felony charges of abduction and obstruction of justice as well as one count of misdemeanor hazing in connection with his role in an incident at a summer football camp in June of last year. A felony charge of rape against Williams was dropped in exchange for his testimony against three other defendants who face multiple felony charges including rape, sexual battery, obstruction of justice, unlawful restraint, and misdemeanor hazing.
- According to court records, the charges stem from a series of incidents involving members of the Berea-Midpark (OH) High School football team and occurred at a summer football camp held at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland. Williams and his unnamed juvenile co-defendants are accused of molesting a total of 11 victims.
- On February 6th attorneys representing several teenage male victims of the infamous 2018 Damascus High School football team rapes filed lawsuits against the Maryland County (MD) Board of Education, former Damascus High School Principal Casey Crouse, former Athletic Director Joe Doody, as well as former Damascus High School football coaches Vincent Colbert and Eric Wallich as defendants. The lawsuit alleges that officials at the school knew of similar incidents of sexual assaults in the past but did not investigate because the Board of Education and the school were worried about negative publicity detracting from the school’s football championship record.
Discussion
Given the social importance of high school football in many communities, it is understandable that anyone who threatens to “disrupt the status quo” by reporting a sexual assault could be subjected to intense pressure from their teammates, coaches, and school administration to “keep things quiet” or to “just keep it inside the team.” Unfortunately, this sends the message that such criminal acts are acceptable.
It must be remembered that sexual assault and rape are criminal acts, even when both the attacker and the victim are males! Furthermore, preventing or attempting to prevent anyone having knowledge of a sexual assault from reporting such an incident to law enforcement is also a crime and could result in felony charges being filed against those who “just want to keep things within the team.”
Contacting a Football Camp Sexual Abuse Lawyer
As almost any law enforcement agency will confirm, any given crime is rarely a new event. As an example, most robberies are carried out by criminals who have carried out previous armed robberies and will continue their criminal ways until captured and imprisoned. The same holds true for sex crimes such as sexual assault and rape: a rapist will usually commit repeated sexual assaults until captured.
Since there are many legal issues that could arise following a sexual assault at a high school football camp, you will need the services of an experienced sexual assault victim’s lawyer who has a record of success in sexual abuse lawsuits.
If your child was the victim of sexual assault at a high school football camp, we encourage you to contact the sexual abuse victim’s lawyer at The Doan Law Firm, a personal injury law firm with offices located throughout the country, to arrange a free review of the facts in your child’s football camp sexual assault case and a review of the legal options that may be available to you.
When you contact our firm to arrange a confidential review of the facts in your child’s football camp sexual abuse case, your case review and first consultation with our sexual abuse victim’s lawyer is always free of any charges and does not obligate you to hire our firm to represent you in court. Should you decide that a lawsuit is in order and that you would like for us to act as your legal counsel, we are always willing to assume full responsibility for all aspects of preparing your case for trial in exchange for a percentage of the final settlement that we are prepared to win for you.