Lawsuit Filed in Parkview Baseball Hazing Case; Family Now Seeks Criminal Charges

The family of one of the victims in the alleged hazing incident involving Parkview High School baseball players has asked for a criminal investigation into the matter.

Additionally, the attorney representing the 14-year-old victim has filed a federal lawsuit against the hotel where the alleged attacks happened, according to media reports.

The lawsuit, filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Charleston, is seeking more than $500,000 from the Hyatt Place Airport/Convention Center in North Charleston, S.C., in connection with the incident.

Attorney Kurt Hilbert also told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution the family was “fully intending to go forward with the criminal side of this.”

RELATED

• Suspensions Handed Down in High School Baseball Hazing Case
• ‘Inappropriate Contact’ Alleged on High School Baseball Trip

Six players have already been suspended by Gwinnett County Public Schools stemming from the June 5 incident during a Panthers Summer Baseball Team trip to play in a tournament in the Charleston area. Their suspensions were from a semester to a full academic year.

The accused players allegedly entered the rooms of incoming freshmen players and wrestled with them. One of the upperclassmen allegedly had “inappropriate physical contact” toward one of the freshmen, the school district said in a statement after the incident. The incident reportedly involved sexual misconduct.

The victims reportedly were one 13-year-old and three 14-year-olds, the accused were 15 to 17 years old.

No charges have been filed, because none of the victims had come forward wanting to prosecute until now. Capt. Scott Perry of the North Charleston Police Department confirmed the agency has been contacted by the lawyer, telling media outlets via email, “We advised the first step in the investigation is to obtain a written statement from his client and we will go from there.”

Hilbert told the AJC the family would travel to South Carolina next week to make a formal statement.

The federal lawsuit accuses the hotel of negligence for giving the older players a card key to the victim’s room after they were not allowed in. It also claims the victim “was manhandled, assaulted, battered, inappropriately touched” and that he has “lost his desire to participate in baseball or be a team member of the Parkview Baseball team that is currently ranked number one in the nation,” according to a Gwinnett Daily Post report.

Parkview High is one of the state’s top baseball programs. The Panthers recently won the Class 6A championship, its sixth state championship.