ROCKVILLE, Md. — Four students who were sexually assaulted inside the J.V. Damascus High School football locker room in 2018, have filed suit against the Montgomery County Board of Education, and the school's former principal, football coach, and athletic director.
The lawsuits allege that school staff were aware of a football team tradition called “brooming”, where sophomore players hazed their freshmen teammates by threatening and at times, sodomizing the younger players with a broom.
Attorneys for the victims say despite concern from parents, staff at Damascus allowed it to continue.
In their lawsuit, the victims claim the defendants failed to protect them by leaving the locker room unsupervised after school and before football practice.
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It's also alleged the school was late to report the incidents to the victims parents and police.
The lawsuit accuses the school of knowing about the violent propensities of one of the suspects, but overlooking it in order to benefit the football team.
Each of the four suspects were initially charged as adults with first-degree rape, but have since had their cases dropped down to the juvenile court system.
