2 Coaches Charged In Hazing Complaint
UPDATED 10/25/11 4:24 p.m.
CHICAGO (CBS) – New details were emerging Tuesday about a hazing incident at Prosser Career Academy that left a 14-year-old football player with bruises.
Two of the school's football coaches have been barred from school property and four students face a 10-day suspension.
CBS 2's Dorothy Tucker reports that other coaches at the school expressed surprise and outrage at the allegations. Time after time, they asked who would stand by and watch a child being whipped with a belt and then videotape it.
LISTEN: WBBM Newsradio's Regine Schlesinger reports
Podcast
Tom Cipriani, 47, and Jonathan Manning, 21, have both been charged with simple battery and endangering the life of a child. Both men are new coaches to Prosser.
They both passed the school's criminal background checks. They do not teach at the school and are considered part-time employees, who are paid by the hour.
Four students also face misdemeanor criminal charges for allegedly beating a 14-year-old football player with belts as a hazing and videotaping it.
According to police reports, the video was shot in the basement of the school, located at 2148 N. Long Av., after classes ended – between 5:30 p.m. and 5:45 p.m.
Sources said the victim was covered in a blanket and then whipped with a belt by students and he suffered several bruises.
The two football coaches have been barred from the school. Their football colleagues, who work for the Chicago Public Schools, declined to be interviewed on camera, but coaches outside the system were talking.
They, too, were expressing anger and disbelief.
"To see coaches being a part of it is really shocking, because you're supposed to be the leaders and the role models for these guys," said St. Rita High School football coach Todd Kuska. "And if you're a part of that, that kid that that was done to, he's probably never going to look at those coaches in the same light."
This comes just weeks after another high-profile case involving high school coaches. Cassius Chambers, football coach at Fenger High School, 11220 S. Wallace St., is charged with assault on allegations that he and another coach drove student to carry out an attack on Darion Jones, 16, at his home. Jones lost his prosthetic eye and a tooth in the attack over a pair of Nike flip-flops.
Psychologist John Mayer says such abuse prompted him to found the Center for Ethical Youth Coaching. He says he has heard horror stories such as the high school football player who suffers from asthma.
"His coach, often as a punishment, refuses to give him his inhaler," he said. Mayer says his center is dedicated to training and certifying youth coaches.
"Who's screening these people? Where do they come from? Are they really qualified to be with a group of teenagers or pre-teens or children?" he said.
The two Prosser coaches have been barred from the school. The district also plans further disciplinary action against the four students who were charged and suspended.
