Damascus Football Rape Case Moved To Federal Court: Reports

GERMANTOWN, MD — A lawsuit alleging that four students were sexually assaulted in a Damascus High School locker room has been moved to federal court, according to multiple news outlets.

In February 2020, the families of the students filed a lawsuit against Montgomery County school officials, accusing them of knowing about a hazing ritual at Damascus known as "brooming," but ignoring the warnings and mishandling the assaults because of the successful football program, according to The Washington Post.

At the time of the October 2018 assaults, the high school's varsity team had a 51-game winning streak.

"They placed winning above the health and safety of some of their most vulnerable students," said William H. "Billy" Murphy, one of the attorneys representing the victims' families, according to The Post.

On Oct. 31, 2018, four junior varsity football players turned off the lights in the boys' locker room, pushed or pinning down four of their teammates, and raped them with a broomstick in a hazing ritual called "brooming," authorities said.

Shortly after the incident, all four teens were charged as adults. Their cases were later transferred back to juvenile court where they pleaded guilty to being involved in the assaults, The Post said.

According to a 2019 internal investigation into rape allegations against the football players, the students were unsupervised for 25 minutes. It was during that 25-minute period that officials said the attacks happened.

"Coaches must supervise student-athletes at all times, before and after practices and contests at both home and away sites," Montgomery County Public Schools Superintendent Jack Smith said at a press conference in May 2019.

The coaches, who were responsible for supervising the junior varsity football players, were running late and those "delays were not adequately communicated to other coaches or staff on-site," Smith said.

On the day of the attacks, school officials discussed the incident in a group text message and launched their own investigation before reaching out to the Montgomery County Police Department, The Post reported. On Nov. 1, they pulled students out of class for interviews and were able to glean more details about the incident — including the identities of several victims and suspects.

According to the newspaper, none of the victims were sent to receive medical care following the locker room attack. Their parents weren't notified of what happened either.

The plaintiffs are seeking monetary damages.