Two Newton-Conover High School students are suspended following a hazing incident on the wrestling team less than 24 hours before the team was scheduled to leave for a tournament in Raleigh.
Several students on the school’s wrestling team were in the practice room after school on Thursday when someone turned the lights off, said Barry Redmond, superintendent for Newton-Conover City Schools. A sophomore on the team grabbed a freshman and put him in a wrestling hold.
Another sophomore, “gave him a wedgie, but more harsh,” Redmond said, adding the offense occurred, “through the shorts, there was no skin-on-skin.”
Redmond said the sophomore who held the freshman down received three days of suspension.
“He didn’t have any awareness the kid was going to be poked,” Redmond said.
The other student participating in the incident, Rogan Cook-Butler, 16, was suspended for the remainder of the semester — 17 days. He was also removed from the wrestling team.
Police were also notified, and Cook-Butler was given a citation for misdemeanor simple assault, according to the Newton Police Department.
The team was scheduled to go to the WRAL Wrestling Tournament in Raleigh Friday morning, but the trip was cancelled.
“We didn’t have enough time to investigate thoroughly and go to the tournament,” Redmond said. “We decided that it was not the right message to send.”
Instead, authorities spend about five hours talking to everyone on the team, as well as the coaches, about what happened.
The wrestling coaches were not in the practice room, Redmond said. They were in the next room, taping some kids’ ankles and knees, getting them ready for practice.
“You think you can tape ankles and not worry about it, and you can’t,” Redmond said. “One had to be in there to ensure things don’t happen. You have to make sure there are no opportunities for something to happen at all times.”
The coaches realized something occurred among the students when they were beginning practice, he said.
“They could tell by the look on the boy’s face something was wrong,” Redmond said. “They pulled him aside and he said, ‘they dog piled me.’ I don’t think it was malicious intent, but it sure was stupid, and there better not be another incident, because we’re not going to tolerate it.”
Newton-Conover High is just the most recent school to experience hazing. Burke County Public Schools reported a hazing incident on Dec. 6, when Draughn High School’s wrestling team was returning from an away match. The hazing incident occurred on the bus, and resulted in seven wrestlers thrown off the team and suspended from school. The coach resigned as a result of the incident.
The most prominent incident is the death of a Florida A&M marching band drum major in November, who’s death was recently ruled a homicide. It is believed to be the result of hazing, as well.
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