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PROCTOR, Minn. — The parents of a Proctor High School football player who was sexually assaulted by a teammate last fall have filed a lawsuit alleging the district, coaches, and superintendent failed to stop a known hazing practice.
Alec John Baney, who was 17 at the time, held the 15-year-old boy down with the help of others and removed his pants outside the Proctor football locker room, penetrating him with the handle of a toilet plunger. The assault was recorded on video and spread on social media.
Baney pleaded guilty to third-degree criminal sexual conduct in May.
The parents’ lawsuit, which was filed on Friday, alleges that there was a “prevalent practice” of hazing football players with the toilet plunger. The district superintendent, head football coach, and five assistant football coaches knew about the hazing.
Documents say that Derek Parendo, who resigned after the incident, had been instructed by the district to remove the plunger from the locker room and tell the football players that hazing would not be tolerated. However, the district did not make sure that Parendo removed the plunger from the locker room, the lawsuit states.
After Parendo resigned, he said he’d “always been singled out” and was not at the school when the assault happened.
The lawsuit says the victim has suffered “severe emotional distress, anxiety stress, and fear of school environment.” The family is seeking $75,000 in damages.
Proctor Public Schools Superintendent Kerry Juntunen released this statement late Tuesday afternoon: “The School District will not be responding to the lawsuit through statements to the media; the forum for that is the judicial process. Throughout that process, we will respect the privacy and other rights of our students, parents and employees; discussing allegations made in a lawsuit in public, and with the media, does not do that.
Source: CBS
