The documents show that Superintendent Ben Hardcastle and Principal Stephanie Shaw opened a Title IX investigation into the sexual-assault allegations on Oct. 23, the same day the victim’s mother reported the attack.
The investigation found that one teammate:
▪ More likely than not on Oct. 22 gave the victim a “wedgie” that ripped his underwear before practice. “This happened in front of other student athletes.”
▪ More likely than not, the victim was wearing the torn boxers after practice when the same teammate who gave him the “wedgie” picked up a black plastic hanger and abused the victim.
▪ It is possible that the teammate who inserted the hanger, when told by another player to stop, told that teammate “something to the effect, ‘shut up or I’ll do the same thing to you.’”
Tanner Ward was the player accused in the criminal complain of inserting the coat hanger into the victim. He was initially charged as an adult with forcible sexual penetration by the use of a foreign object, but his case was moved to juvenile court earlier this month as part of plea negotiations.
The investigation found that a second teammate:
▪ More likely than not “kicked the hanger multiple times, either embedding it into the rectum of (victim), or embedding it further.”
▪ More likely than not, the teammate who kicked the hanger “on other occasions … has ‘dry humped’ or simulated having anal sex with younger players.”
▪ “It is possible but not certain that, before practice on Oct. 22, (the player who kicked the hanger) pushed (the victim) into the corner of the bathroom on the Junior High School side of the locker room, after his underwear had been ripped, and simulated having sex with him.”
Howard was the player accused in the criminal complaint of kicking the hanger further into the victim. He pleaded not guilty earlier this month to a felony charge of forcible sexual penetration by the use of a foreign object.
The investigation found that a third teammate:
▪ More likely than not had his arm around and was possibly hugging (victim) when (redacted) grabbed (the victim’s) underwear.
▪ “More likely than not ... was present and turned off the lights in the bathroom when (the second player) pushed (the victim) into the corner and simulated having sex with him.”
▪ More likely than not “‘dry humped’ or simulated having sex with (the victim) in the cold storage room the football team keeps its pads, but this happened on a separate date than the other incidents.”
The player charged as a juvenile was a boy accused in a preliminary hearing of luring the victim into a hug so that Ward and Tanner could attack him.
Other documents in the new court filing include written statements and drawings from students whose names are redacted. Among them is a statement from a football player who says he used his foot to shove the victim away.
The documents say the players attacked the victim twice, both times abusing him with the hanger.
Other football players wrote they witnessed the attacks, with one writing “I felt like saying something to stop it but I’m one of those people that I get too nervous or shy to say something about it.”
Read more here:
http://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/nation-world/article104645601.html#storylink=cpy
