Edhat StaffBy the edhat staff
The Santa Barbara Unified School District has settled a lawsuit over alleged hazing within the Dos Pueblos High School baseball team, according to The Independent.
In May 2019, edhat reported a lawsuit was filed alleging seven Dos Pueblos High School baseball players tricked a teammate into eating a contaminated doughnut during a sponsored spring break trip
The lawsuit was filed in Santa Barbara Superior Court in April of 2019 claiming that while in Ontario in March of 2018, seven boys on the baseball team collected ejaculates from members of the team into a cup to “lather it onto a doughnut.” Former members of the baseball team then tricked a teammate into eating the doughnut that had been contaminated with “a potentially harmful foreign organic substance from their own bodies.”
The plaintiff in the lawsuit allegedly took bites of the doughnut without realizing what had been done to it and the event was captured on video and reportedly shared on social media.
The lawsuit claimed there were multiple hazing events during the trip at an Ontario hotel and that coaches and chaperones were out drinking at a Hooters bar and restaurant instead of enforcing bed checks and curfew.
The Independent is reporting the lawsuit has been settled for an undisclosed amount after multiple mediations when the school district’s insurer agreed to settle to avoid further costs of litigation.
Frank Cuykendall, who represents the Plaintiff, said in a statement to edhat that this case was about acknowledging and accepting responsibility and it was finally achieved, which is why the identities of those involved have not been disclosed.
[Editor’s Note: This article has been amended to clarify there were actually seven former Dos Pueblos High School baseball players that were alleged of a crime, not two as previously reported. An updated statement from Plaintiff’s lawyer is also included.]
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May 17, 2019: Dos Pueblos High Baseball Hazing Incident Cited in Lawsuit
12:22 – Agreed, to an extent. Good parenting can only do so much. Peer pressure can cause an otherwise “perfect” kid into someone doing something like this. In high school athletics, in particular, the pressure to fit in and be part of “the team” can be overwhelming. The boys who initiated this have some serious issues though to even come up with this idea. I’m surprised the coaches didn’t get in more trouble for this. They were/are directly responsible for their team.
@TT69: good point. At this age, they don’t have parents in their rooms with them 24/7. This kind of thing can happen without fault on the attendant adults, although I do think there was some here in the way they handled the aftermath.
The boys who did this are disgusting and sadly, most are still playing baseball, now at the college level. I think their current coaches should be made aware of this.