Three students on the junior varsity football team at Brooklyn’s James Madison High School have been charged in a harrowing “hazing” incident — triggering the cancelation of the rest of the school’s football season, the NYPD and department of education officials said.
Two 14-year-olds and a 13-year-old were charged with forcible touching and unlawful imprisonment after they allegedly held down and inappropriately touched a 14-year-old teammate at the Sheepshead Bay school on Oct. 16, according to police.
“Bullying and harassment, including hazing, have no place in our schools – period,” New York City public schools press secretary Nathaniel Styer said in a statement Monday. “Upon hearing reports of hazing, the school immediately acted. Parents were immediately notified, the school is providing supports, and an investigation is ongoing.”
James Madison High School’s football program faced scrutiny last year when former JV football coach Nicholas Nugent was arrested and charged for allegedly slamming a teen’s head into the wall. Nugent’s case is still pending.
The three teens arrested for participating in the Oct. 16 incident were charged as juveniles, police said. Their names are not being released because they are minors.