Source: IndyStar
By: Mark Ambrogi
A hazing scandal that has rocked Carmel High School continued to spread Friday, with a fourth senior basketball player kicked off the team.
The student was removed from the team as a result of the continuing police investigation into a Jan. 22 incident in which two freshmen allegedly were assaulted by seniors during a bus ride. It was unclear whether the fourth student’s suspension resulted from that incident.
Three other seniors were kicked off the team because of the incident, leaving just one senior player to be introduced Friday night at Carmel’s final regular-season game against Brebeuf Jesuit, which Carmel won 59-43. Police and school officials would provide no details about what led to the fourth student’s suspension.
The revelation followed news Thursday that a 17-year-old said students had assaulted him Jan. 8 in a locker room. A police report obtained by WTHR (Channel 13), The Indianapolis Star’s news-gathering partner, said the student who reported the incident told authorities “there were ongoing issues that were occurring in the locker rooms at Carmel High School.”
Few additional details about the incidents have been released, but Carmel officials and school leaders tried to reassure residents that the incidents, which police say could include criminal deviate sexual conduct, are being investigated thoroughly.
Parents attending Friday’s game had mixed feelings about school officials’ handling of the investigation.
Parent Lance Laconi called the allegations “horrible” but thinks it is an isolated incident.
“I have a daughter here who is a freshman and a seventh-grader; I’m not concerned about them going to school here,” he said.
But Mark Satz, whose children are involved in swimming, said coach Mark Galloway should be fired.
“He is ultimately responsible to the parents of those kids,” Satz told WTHR.
Galloway spoke to reporters after his team’s victory, calling the ordeal the biggest challenge of his career.
“I’ve got a lot of people praying for me,” he said. “That’s all I can ask for. I appreciate the prayers and the support we’re getting from the administration and the community.”
Carmel Principal John Williams would not say Friday whether school officials suspect a pattern of hazing.
“As new information has come up, we have shared that with the police,” Williams said. “We have adjusted our feeling about what is appropriate discipline and consequences.”
Before Friday night’s game, city officials released a statement saying Police Chief Michael Fogarty had assigned five investigators to the case.
“It is more complicated than a typical investigation because it involves minors,” Mayor Jim Brainard said. “The Carmel Police Department is working to ensure that no mistakes are made, caused by haste or pressure from the media for premature disclosure of facts, that could jeopardize a conviction.”
Since announcing earlier this week that Carmel police had entered the investigation, school officials have declined to identify the players involved or the discipline taken against them.
The Star generally does not name people accused of crimes who have not been formally charged.
Williams said he could not say whether the players were still enrolled in school.
“I think I can tell you students that are involved in this behavior are not part of our teams, and if the behavior is serious enough, they are not a part of our school. That hasn’t changed any with this situation.”
Andy Klein, president of the district’s School Board, said: “Everyone is deeply troubled by this.
“But I feel confident there has been a thorough, broad-based investigation. . . . (School officials) have taken action after they had a solid handle on the facts and what happened.”
Williams said he has tried to be as forthcoming as possible.
“I take seriously my responsibility to protect our students’ rights,” he said. “We’re trying to get legal guidance on what we can do.”
School and police officials have refused to describe what allegedly happened on Jan. 22. Fogarty said earlier this week that the charges under investigation include battery, confinement and criminal deviate conduct.
Indiana law defines criminal deviate conduct as an act that “knowingly or willingly causes another person to submit to deviate sexual conduct.”
The Jan. 22 incident reportedly happened as players returned home on a full-size school bus from a game at Terre Haute South. According to a Carmel police report with information on the players’ identities and the nature of the assault removed, one freshman said the bus had made a stop near Cloverdale in western Indiana and had “continued their trip home when . . . players assaulted him.”
He “said that they were at the back of the bus . . . that he was asleep and woke up and decided to walk to the back of the bus. When he got back there the players grabbed him.” The heavily redacted police report gave no details about the second freshman.
Williams acknowledged he’s heard from parents who wonder how the incident could have occurred with the freshman team coaches on the bus. He said he talked with the three freshman team coaches, who were sitting at the front when the incident occurred.
“We’ve talked with the head coach and the other coaches about other aspects of our investigation.”
