The Athens Area School District and several current and former administrators are asking a US Middle District Judge for Pennsylvania to dismiss a lawsuit filed by the parents of a former Athens High School football player who was allegedly injured in a hazing incident in 2022.
The lawsuit alleges that in the summer of 2022, the victim who was heading into his sophomore year at Athens, attended a three-day football camp at Bloomsburg University with the Wildcats football team.
The incident began when a senior football player allegedly threw water on the victim, who then retaliated against the older teammate. The lawsuit claims later that day a student picked the lock to the townhouse where the victim was staying with about 16 other players. The victim was allegedly attacked and punched in the groin with closed fists.
According to the lawsuit, 10 to 15 players watched the alleged attack, and some took videos on their phones — but most did not participate in the assault.
The lawsuit claims the victim vomited several times following the attack and sustained injuries to his genitals as well as permanent injuries to his back and psychological injuries.
Two students were arrested and charged by state police with assault for their alleged role in the attack.
The lawsuit claims the school district and administrators broke its own policy by allowing the trip to the football camp without receiving approval from the school board. It also questions the amount of supervision the students were under during the time period of the alleged attack.
Attorneys for the school district and other plaintiffs argued that the lawsuit is contrary to a 2023 middle district finding that a school district generally cannot be held liable for failing to protect students from student-on-student harassment, no matter how unfair and unjust the school’s response to such harassment is.
They also say the lawyers for the parents failed to make a claim that the school violated the football player’s 14th amendment rights.
Several Bloomsburg University officials have also been named in the lawsuit.
