Petaluma High School students charged in ‘hazing’ incident

The assault and battery charges, including two felonies, center on an Oct. 28, 2021, incident before football practice.|

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Four Petaluma High School students are facing charges in the wake of an alleged “hazing” incident involving junior varsity football players last fall.

The assault and battery charges, including two felonies, center on an Oct. 28, 2021, incident before football practice that was recorded and shared on social media, according to police and school officials.

Petaluma Police Lt. Tim Lyons said Tuesday he could not release details of the investigation because the students involved were juveniles. The charges, which included two felony counts of assault with bodily injury, were filed in mid-December, police said. All four students were released to their parents following the charges.

School officials have confirmed some of the basic facts of the case, which parents have described as “hazing,” but more specific details have not been released.

“Several parents informed our administrative team about an incident involving students from the Petaluma JV football team. Parents stated that their student athletes had been assaulted before football practice by other members of the team,” Petaluma High Principal Justin Mori told the Argus-Courier last fall.

Petaluma police declined to provide more details on the case. The department’s handbook cautions personnel against the release of information in cases involving juveniles “unless they are certain of the legal authority to do so.”

Brian Staebell, Sonoma County chief deputy district attorney, declined to provide information about prosecutors’ decision to charge juveniles in the case, saying, “with very limited exceptions,” the district attorney’s office is not legally allowed to release information contained within juvenile court files.

After the incident, Petaluma High School sent a notification to the school community, and Superintendent Matthew Harris briefed the Petaluma City Schools Board of Education, Assistant Superintendent Maite Iturri said.

Reached via text message Wednesday, Board President Joanna Paun deferred comment to district administrators.

Although she declined to delve into specifics related to the October incident, Iturri said administrators would dispute the characterization of the incident as “hazing,” and that they believed this case to be an isolated incident.

Iturri added that the district takes every incident involving student safety seriously.

“After any incident, we have an after-action review to discuss what happened, what we learned and what we can do better,” Iturri said. “We always want to make sure we have the people and resources in place to ensure our students’ safety.”

Argus-Courier Editor Tyler Silvy contributed to this report.

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News tips about this story and others can be sent to tellus@arguscourier.com.

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