Reed-Custer Denies Lawsuit's Hazing Allegations Made By Family

BRAIDWOOD, IL - A family in Braidwood has filed a federal lawsuit in Chicago against the Reed-Custer School District south of Joliet alleging that their son was the victim of hazing and abuse back in 2017. Several Chicago television news stations were notified on Wednesday that the federal lawsuit was filed and all of them had stories ready to report.

However, a story in the local newspaper, The Braidwood Journal, was probably the most in-depth about the case. That article was headlined, "Lawsuit filed against Reed-Custer school district claims culture of abuse in football."

The article by staff writer Marney Simon noted that the parents of the former Reed-Custer student, Richard and Allison Brookman, filed their federal lawsuit in Chicago and named the school district as a defendant, plus former football coach Mark Wolf, coach Mike Mathieu, teacher Butch Stafford, High School Principal Tim Ricketts, Assistant Principal Michael Smith, and Athletic Director Chuck Anderson as co-defendants.

Reed-Custer's school administration posted the following press release on its school district website on Wednesday:

The Braidwood Journal's article reported how "the lawsuit alleges that when the Brookmans' son was an incoming freshman attending football camp in July 2017, he was subjected to bullying, harassment and attempted sexual assaults as part of a culture of hazing and hazing rituals known by the Defendants.”

To read the entire article in the Braidwood newspaper, go here.

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