The Stark County Prosecutor's Office said on Tuesday that it won't pursue charges against players on the Massillon Washington Football Team for "locker room horseplay that went too far."
Hazing sparks investigation
According to a Massillon Police report, on June 26, during football practice downtime at an indoor field, some members of the football team would rush an unsuspecting player, pin them to the ground and "take an article of clothing from them." This happened to multiple players. Some lost a shoe, while others just had their clothing pulled at.
During one such incident, a player lost his flip-flops and shorts and ended up naked from the waist down. Another player who was filming it on SnapChat realized their teammate was partially naked and deleted the video, the report said.
The mother of the student who lost his shorts spoke to police and said she and her son talked about it and did not want to pursue charges but stated that it "got out of hand and was stupid." She went on to say that all of the players involved were friends and would likely continue to hang out at her house.
No charges filed
The prosecutor's office said it did a thorough review of the information it received from police about the incident and spoke to the families of the players involved, and determined what happened wasn't criminal.
"Upon completion of said review, it is the determination of this office there will be no charges filed against the players seen participating in what has been deemed locker room horseplay that went too far. While this behavior is inexcusable, it doesn’t rise to the level of criminality. Our investigation does, however, continue into the dissemination of this incident. We take the sharing of imagery of children in vulnerable states very seriously and will apply the law accordingly," the prosecutor's office said.
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