High School Football Player Arrested In Four-On-One Mugging, Still Playing On Team
A high school football player arrested and charged with felonious assault will continue to play at Clearview High School in Lorain, Ohio.
According to a report from WSLS, the high school student, who was not named, played in Friday night’s game and the school has no plans to change that.
The victim, 16-year-old Nick Vincenzo (pictured above), was “jumped, robbed, and beaten to a pulp” in August, the news site stated. One of his attackers was the 17-year-old player. Three others were arrested as well.
“They broke the bone on his face,” said father Jon Vincenzo. “Took his clothes and shoes and left him in the street in his underwear and socks.”
When the elder Vincenzo saw that his son’s attacker was still playing in last Friday’s game, he was understandably irate.
“It’s disgusting. If you can’t treat people with respect you have no business being in the arena. Being cheered for and being revered.”
He also posed the question of why the football player arrested for the crime was playing when he’d violated the school’s code of conduct. The school has since responded to this question with an official statement from Jerome M. Davis, the Superintendent of Clearview Local Schools.
“While we understand that the family and friends are upset with what happened, the administration of the Clearview Local Schools followed the code of conduct. When we became aware of the situation, we investigated and discipline was rendered as per our extracurricular code of conduct. As in a lot of cases, someone is usually not happy with the outcome. That part is out of our control. It is our intention to follow the rules and regulations/code of conduct to the best of our ability. We feel badly for what happened and none of us would want it to happen to our child or children. As a school district, we followed our code of conduct and disciplined accordingly. Our administrators are constantly monitoring the situation, realizing that further involvement could lead to further consequences. We’ve dealt with it on our end. Now we must allow the courts do their job.”
Vincenzo is wondering if the “extracurricular” code of conduct means that you get a slap on the wrist as long as you’re good at football. And according to Vincenzo, his son’s attacker is.
“Yeah. He’s pretty good. Really good. I don’t care how good he is. He wouldn’t be playing for my football team,” Vincenzo said.
The attacker will be arraigned on November 10 for the crime.
What do you think should be done about the football player arrested for the four-on-one attack — expulsion, suspension from team, or did the district make the right call?