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Hinkley student: Soccer team harassment was regular occurrence, district overreacted
By AARON COLE
The Aurora Sentinel
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| BUS VIDEO WITHHELD Weeks after a sexual hazing incident on a school bus involving Hinkley High School soccer teams, more students are being suspended and possibly expelled, and unfairly so, according to one student and his parent. (Aurora Sentinel file photo) |
AURORA | The jubilation of winning a game, a night-time school-bus ride, and teenage-boy sensibilities, were enough to get players riled up.
A Hinkley High School soccer player said it was a common occurrence that started at the beginning of soccer season in August.
The lights go out on the bus, and that’s when it would begin. School officials call it hazing. Denver police say it might have been misdemeanor sex crimes. Most of the players say it was mostly adolescent roughhousing.
On Sept. 25, the soccer player, who did not want to be named for fear of retaliation from students and staff members, said what he believed to be horseplay happened again.
Players began yelling and screaming, adults supervisors told students to quiet down or they’d have to run extra laps when the bus arrived in Aurora.
But somewhere in the back, behind where the student was sitting, something much more disturbing happened, something he said he never actually saw, but hear rumors about after the fact.
“I don’t know nothing about that,” he said.
Yet it was that incident that led to as many as 15 suspensions and possible expulsions, said the student, who approximated the number of students after sending text messages to teammates after his suspension.
In fact, very little of the incident has been released to parents and students involved in the alleged incident.
Aurora Public Schools has said that a video recording of the incident exists, however, Paula Hans, spokeswoman for Aurora Public Schools, would not discuss the video of the bus ride and said the district would adhere to privacy laws.
However a similar incident in Greeley last year forced that district to release footage of an incident on a bus after a court ruled that it did not fall under FERPA guidelines.
“It is our understanding that the police investigation into this matter is continuing, and we do not want to interfere in it in any way,” said Hans. The district has interpreted federal Family Education Rights and Privacy Law to prohibit the district from discussing a video or releasing it to the public.
The student talking with the Aurora Sentinel was suspended for 10 days for alleged hazing incident on the bus, which he said would have been nearly impossible to see on a video recording. The incident was unrelated to what police have said is a possible misdemeanor sex assault that occurred at the back of the bus.
According to the student, after winning a soccer game at Arvada West, the team entered the bus and were celebrating their most recent victory.
The student said he was engaged in celebrating with a student behind him on the seat when teammates ran up to the other student he was celebrating with.
One student held down the victim’s legs while another feigned a sex act on the student.
It was a relatively common occurrence, according to the student that spoke with The Aurora Sentinel. The harassment wasn’t limited to underclassmen, and nearly every player on the team had been subjected to it, he said.
“It happened to everyone,” he said.
The Sentinel source said he was merely helping the “victim” regain himself after the harassment, something construed on the video tape as an effort to hold the victim down. The student said the district would not allow him to view the video tape, nor produce witnesses to corroborate his story because of an ongoing investigation into the incident by the Denver Police Department.
Loretta Beauvais, spokeswoman for DPD, said the investigation was ongoing and that investigators have yet to discuss possible charges with Denver prosecutors.
In subsequent conversations with the officials at Hinkley, the student said the school was no longer allowed to speak to the victim of the harassment because of DPD’s investigation.
The student and his parent insisted to school officials that the boy wasn’t involved in the incident that prompted the police investigation. Other students on the bus have said one soccer player was held down by others in the back of the bus while another student exposed himself and put his genitals on the victim’s face.
After the alleged sexual assault occurred, the student said the victim of the alleged sex assault came to where he was sitting, where he asked him what happened and the victim said, “nothing.”
“I had nothing to do with that,” the student said.
But still, the student said he was approached by school officials weeks later and asked about the night.
The student said he told school officials what happened that night, which school officials rejected and suspended him, and provided him with paperwork for indicating that he admitted guilt in the offense, a claim the student denies.
“I told them, ‘No, it didn’t happen like that,’” he said. “It’s all unfair.”
School officials have refused to release details of the incident or a timeline for completing the investigation.
A Hinkley High School soccer player said it was a common occurrence that started at the beginning of soccer season in August.
The lights go out on the bus, and that’s when it would begin. School officials call it hazing. Denver police say it might have been misdemeanor sex crimes. Most of the players say it was mostly adolescent roughhousing.
On Sept. 25, the soccer player, who did not want to be named for fear of retaliation from students and staff members, said what he believed to be horseplay happened again.
Players began yelling and screaming, adults supervisors told students to quiet down or they’d have to run extra laps when the bus arrived in Aurora.
But somewhere in the back, behind where the student was sitting, something much more disturbing happened, something he said he never actually saw, but hear rumors about after the fact.
“I don’t know nothing about that,” he said.
Yet it was that incident that led to as many as 15 suspensions and possible expulsions, said the student, who approximated the number of students after sending text messages to teammates after his suspension.
In fact, very little of the incident has been released to parents and students involved in the alleged incident.
Aurora Public Schools has said that a video recording of the incident exists, however, Paula Hans, spokeswoman for Aurora Public Schools, would not discuss the video of the bus ride and said the district would adhere to privacy laws.
However a similar incident in Greeley last year forced that district to release footage of an incident on a bus after a court ruled that it did not fall under FERPA guidelines.
“It is our understanding that the police investigation into this matter is continuing, and we do not want to interfere in it in any way,” said Hans. The district has interpreted federal Family Education Rights and Privacy Law to prohibit the district from discussing a video or releasing it to the public.
The student talking with the Aurora Sentinel was suspended for 10 days for alleged hazing incident on the bus, which he said would have been nearly impossible to see on a video recording. The incident was unrelated to what police have said is a possible misdemeanor sex assault that occurred at the back of the bus.
According to the student, after winning a soccer game at Arvada West, the team entered the bus and were celebrating their most recent victory.
The student said he was engaged in celebrating with a student behind him on the seat when teammates ran up to the other student he was celebrating with.
One student held down the victim’s legs while another feigned a sex act on the student.
It was a relatively common occurrence, according to the student that spoke with The Aurora Sentinel. The harassment wasn’t limited to underclassmen, and nearly every player on the team had been subjected to it, he said.
“It happened to everyone,” he said.
The Sentinel source said he was merely helping the “victim” regain himself after the harassment, something construed on the video tape as an effort to hold the victim down. The student said the district would not allow him to view the video tape, nor produce witnesses to corroborate his story because of an ongoing investigation into the incident by the Denver Police Department.
Loretta Beauvais, spokeswoman for DPD, said the investigation was ongoing and that investigators have yet to discuss possible charges with Denver prosecutors.
In subsequent conversations with the officials at Hinkley, the student said the school was no longer allowed to speak to the victim of the harassment because of DPD’s investigation.
The student and his parent insisted to school officials that the boy wasn’t involved in the incident that prompted the police investigation. Other students on the bus have said one soccer player was held down by others in the back of the bus while another student exposed himself and put his genitals on the victim’s face.
After the alleged sexual assault occurred, the student said the victim of the alleged sex assault came to where he was sitting, where he asked him what happened and the victim said, “nothing.”
“I had nothing to do with that,” the student said.
But still, the student said he was approached by school officials weeks later and asked about the night.
The student said he told school officials what happened that night, which school officials rejected and suspended him, and provided him with paperwork for indicating that he admitted guilt in the offense, a claim the student denies.
“I told them, ‘No, it didn’t happen like that,’” he said. “It’s all unfair.”
School officials have refused to release details of the incident or a timeline for completing the investigation.
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