SANTA ANA, Calif. (KNX) — A private, Roman Catholic high school in Orange County is facing a lawsuit from the family of a student athlete who alleged he was violently hazed by teammates, leaving him with a brain injury, multiple lacerations, and a broken nose requiring surgery.
In the complaint filed by an unidentified male student, it was alleged football players at Mater Dei High School in Santa Ana reportedly engaged in an initiation ritual known as “Bodies,” wherein teammates shove and strike each other in the torso until one of them concedes defeat.
According to The Orange County Register, just before a team practice in February, a five-foot, nine-inch, 175-pound newcomer to the team faced off with an opponent 50 pounds heavier in the Mater Dei locker room. The players engaged in a brawl caught on cell phone video, in which some onlookers shouted racial epithets.
The fight left the smaller player with a “traumatic brain injury,” The Register reported, along with two gases over his right eye, and a broken nose requiring reconstructive surgery.
A Santa Ana Police Department investigator, upon viewing the extent of the player’s injuries, recommended that the juvenile division of the O.C. District Attorney’s Office file felony battery charges against the other player.
The D.A.’s office has instead declined to file charges, deeming the altercation “mutual combat.”
The injured player has withdrawn from Mater Dei and claimed to have continued issues relating to his brain injury. The other student continues to play for the Mater Dei Monarch, one of the country’s most prominent high school footballs, currently ranked first nationally by USA Today.
Mater Dei head coach Bruce Rollinson initially told Santa Ana police he had no knowledge of any hazing activity on the team. But two months prior, a player showed linebacker coach Pat Dunbar a cell phone video of the fight at issue, according to The Register.
That video made its way from Dunbar to an attorney representing the uninjured player participating in “Bodies.” The attorney handed it over to the Santa Ana police. After watching, an investigator concluded that the larger player exceeded the scope of mutual combat by striking the smaller in the face — in violation of the unspoken rules of “Bodies.” The larger player continued to hit the smaller even after the latter put his hands up in defense over his face and stopped fighting.
“At this time [the larger player] threw one final punch that was beyond the scope of the game. The last strike was a punch to a defenseless opponent as he was hurt and dazed from the previous punch, causing serious bodily damage to [the smaller player]’s face,” a police report stated.
A team trainer, after seeing the smaller player’s injuries, “spoke with the administrative staff at Mater Dei who told him not to call the paramedics and to delay contacting [the player’s] parents,” court filings alleged.
It was also alleged that trainers “largely ignored” the injured player, even after he continued to bleed profusely from lacerations to his face. When a trainer eventually administered a concussion test, more than 30 minutes after the fight, according to court documents, there was “no doubt” the player had “suffered traumatic brain injury.”
The player’s father spoke with Rollinson a day after the alleged incident. During the conversation, the head coach reportedly apologized and admitted to knowing about “Bodies,” according to court documents. Rollinson also said he could not discipline the other player because his father was a volunteer assistant coach with the team.
After the conversation ended, the injured player’s father received a phone call from Mater Dei dean of students Tim O’Hara, a running backs coach for the team. O’Hara informed him the school was suspending his son.
Mater Dei principal Frances Clare allegedly declined to meet with the parent or take any of his calls.
The player’s father took him to an urgent care facility later that night and to a pediatrician the following day. He was diagnosed with concussion, exhibited swollen eyes and slurred speech, and incurred a fracture to his left nasal passage. He underwent surgery at Children’s Hospital of Orange County on Feb. 10.
The injured player’s family is now suing both Mater Dei and the Roman Catholic Diocese of Orange in Orange County Superior Court. They have alleged a variety of negligence claims against the defendants, as well as intentional infliction of emotional distress.
“The attitude and dismissiveness of Coach Rollins in terms of the dangers created by ‘Bodies’ was outrageous,” the suit states. “This is especially true in light of the fact that the administration and coaches at Mater Dei valued the school’s status as a nationally recognized football powerhouse over the health and safety of its minor athletes.”
“Coaching staff programs players to believe that being tough is one way to remain the best in the nation,” plaintiffs’ court filings noted. “As part of toughening each other up, the football players play ‘Bodies.’”
In a statement to The Register, Mater Dei administrators said, “An independent, thorough investigation was conducted. We are unable to comment further due to the involvement of minors.”
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