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Teammates Accused of Raping Freshman on 'No Gay Thursday'
Teammates Accused of Raping Freshman on 'No Gay Thursday'
The district attorney charged the attackers but says coaching staff is also to blame.
Three 17-year-old high school football players are accused of assaulting a teammate with a broom handle in the locker room on "No Gay Thursday," reports the Associated Press.
Now the coach at Conestoga High School, John Vogan, has been suspended by the school district located in suburban Philadelphia while it investigates. The Chester County district attorney announced charges against the students and called out the coaching staff for a "shocking lack of supervision."
"Kids reported that the victim was yelling and screaming," said the DA, Tom Hogan, in a news conference, "but he did not have a friend in that locker room."
The Associated Press reports that the three students face charges of assault, conspiracy, unlawful restraint, and terroristic threats. But Hogan isn't charging them with sexual assault, the AP reports, because "the law requires a motive of sexual gratification, which was not the case here."
The 14-year-old victim, a freshman, was reportedly resented by teammates for being on the varsity team. "No Gay Thursday" is being described as a team tradition when sexual harassment that players would normally call "gay" was deemed fine and then used to taunt each other.
Watch a report on the news conference from WPVI:
