Eleven upstate New York high school students have turned themselves in after an alleged hazing stunt on younger players on their lacrosse team, where officials say at least one student was taken to the remote woods and tied up.
Joseph T. Coolican, Assistant District Attorney at the Onondaga County District Attorney’s Office, confirmed all 11 students in question turned themselves in to the sheriff’s office on Thursday and have received appearance tickets.
No other information was shared on the students or what their current statuses are. It was not immediately clear whether any of the students had legal representation.
Onondaga County District Attorney Bill Fitzpatrick earlier said he and the Onondaga County Sheriff’s Office had decided to prosecute the case — and gave anyone involved a 48-hour window to turn themselves in to avoid a criminal record. Investigators said they believe 11 people, perhaps more, were involved in the stunt.
“You have 48 hours to turn yourself into the sheriff’s department and the following will happen: You will be given an appearance ticket with a crime of unlawful imprisonment, a class A misdemeanor. You will not be spending time in the public safety building, you will not have bail set, you will be released to the custody of your parents,” Fitzpatrick said.
Fitzpatrick said some of the individuals involved are “of age” meaning at least 18, but none of their names have been released.
The students were involved in an alleged hazing incident with their lacrosse team last week.
Fitzpatrick described the alleged incident as “hazing on steroids” during a press conference Tuesday.
The incident unfolded April 24 involving students at Westhill High School in Syracuse, Fitzpatrick said. Some lacrosse team students decided “they were going to haze or play some sort of prank” on younger members, he added.
There were at least five victims identified by the sheriff’s office.
One victim reported that he went to a lacrosse game and then McDonald’s with upperclassmen. But the evening took a turn when he said he was taken to a remote wooded area in the county after the driver of the vehicle pretended to be lost.
“At some point by prearrangement, people came out of the woods all dressed in black. They were armed with what appeared to be at least one handgun and at least one knife,” Fitzpatrick said. “The individual had a pillowcase placed over his head, he was tied up and placed in the trunk of a car.”
The district attorney said he saw videotape of the incident.
“There was a period of time where he thought that he was going to be abandoned in the middle of nowhere,” Fitzpatrick added. “You can hear some individuals found it amusing.”
The student was eventually returned home. Fitzgerald said he wasn’t aware if the student suffered any physical injury but “emotionally that’s going to be long term.”
He said “some of the other individuals were able to escape.”
The district attorney said the case will likely be handled in family court. Those who turned themselves in will have the opportunity to “end this situation without a criminal conviction and a criminal record,” Fitzpatrick said.
He said if any of the students didn’t turn themselves in within the 48-hour window, they would have been arrested, prosecuted as an adult and charged with “a very very serious felony” of kidnapping, Fitzpatrick said.
Fitzpatrick said, “some people have been cooperative with the sheriff’s office and given statements, some people have not.”
“There’s a thing in New York called accomplished liability. This was a group effort. Some people were assigned different roles. I don’t care who held the gun. His role is no different than the guy who held the knife, than the guy who held nothing, than the guy who dragged this poor kid into the trunk of a car. They’re all in this together,” the district attorney explained.
Westhill Central School District Superintendent Steve Dunham announced the rest of the boy’s lacrosse season has been canceled.
In a statement, he said the district has been investigating “reports of a potential off-campus hazing incident,” WSTM of Syracuse reported.
“Let me be clear: the majority of the varsity boys lacrosse team was NOT involved in the incident from last week, nor were they aware of it ahead of time. Some may argue that all student-athletes shouldn’t be punished for the actions of a few. While I understand that perspective, we must address the culture of the program, and the most appropriate way to do that is with a reset,” he said.
“Hazing is an indefensible act,” Dunham added. “As I shared previously, we will address inappropriate behavior that negatively impacts members of our school community promptly and appropriately according to our Code of Conduct.”
Dunham said that the district is cooperating with the district attorney’s investigation.
This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
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