Maine West high school district pays $1 million to settle hazing lawsuit

Nov. 09--A northwest suburban high school district has agreed to pay $1 million to settle a lawsuit by five former student athletes who said they were physically assaulted in hazing rituals.

The payment of $200,000 to each of the five former students is meant to bring closure to an incident that put a national spotlight on Maine West High School in Des Plaines and the problem of school hazing.

The Maine Township High School District 207 board voted Monday to approve the settlement, which will be paid by its insurers, but the school system admitted no wrongdoing.

The suit related to an incident in the fall of 2012 in which players on the boys soccer and baseball teams at Maine West said teammates initiated them by assaulting them at practice, in at least one case by poking them in the rear with fingers and a stick.

Other players then came forward to say they had been assaulted by teammates that summer and in 2007 and 2008, one alleging that they tore off his pants and underwear, following a long-standing custom.

After interviews with the victims, authorities charged six students in juvenile court with misdemeanor assault. Two coaches were fired.

Cook County prosecutors later dropped charges against the students and instead charged former soccer coach Michael DiVincenzo with misdemeanor hazing, battery and failure to report abuse. After a trial, a judge acquitted the coach of all charges, stating that no one testified that the coach knew what was happening.

The district issued a statement that officials entered the agreement in part to avoid the cost of further litigation, and so as not to have to call former students and staff to testify at trial.

"The settlement will bring to a closure a matter that has weighed heavily on the entire community since 2012 and is, in the judgment of the Board, in the best of interests of all involved," the statement read.

The suit alleged that one victim's teammates tore his pants off, pushed him to the ground, shoved his face in the dirt, held him so he could not resist, struck him about the body, grabbed his genitalia and sodomized him with fingers and foreign objects. Police had said earlier that they concluded there was inappropriate touching by perpetrators but no penetration.

The complaint accused the district and its officials of allowing a culture of hazing that led to younger players being beaten and sexually abused by upperclassmen. Attorney Antonio Romanucci, who filed the suit, applauded the board for taking the hazing allegations seriously from the beginning.

"The children involved in this experience, along with their families, are happy that they have been able to put this chapter of their lives behind them," he said. "As they are now all adults, they are concentrating on their college studies, careers and bright futures."

The incidents led the state to pass a new law which makes it a Class B misdemeanor for a school official to fail to report hazing to educational authorities when it causes bodily harm. It also prompted the district to hire a former prosecutor to conduct an internal investigation, hire a consultant to hold anti-hazing focus groups and retrain coaches on anti-hazing measures.

[email protected]

___

(c)2016 the Chicago Tribune

Visit the Chicago Tribune at www.chicagotribune.com

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.