Lawsuit alleges wrestling program ‘fostered an environment of hazing’

PAULS VALLEY — The mother of a boy who, police say, was sexually assaulted by fellow Norman North High School wrestlers claims in a lawsuit that the school district “has fostered a known environment of hazing and assault within its wrestling program.”

The lawsuit, filed last week in Garvin County District Court, alleges coaches and supervisors at Norman Public Schools either “knew or should have known of the common practice of wrestlers hazing and assaulting one another.”

The parent is suing the school district, as well as former coaches and faculty. She claims her son, 16 at the time, has suffered personal injury and mental anguish from being “sexually assaulted, hazed and battered” by three upperclassmen wrestlers last year.

The lawsuit stems from a Jan. 9, 2016, incident in which two teammates reported being sexually assaulted on a bus on the way back from a wrestling tournament in Pauls Valley. The other victim was 12 at the time, police reported.

Four wrestlers were charged the following month with rape by instrumentation. Garvin County prosecutors alleged the attackers used their fingers in the assaults.

The plaintiff’s attorney, Zachary Barron, told The Oklahoman on Wednesday they are seeking monetary damages but “hope to also send a message to the school to take action to stop this type of activity from occurring in the future.”

“We feel confident that the evidence will speak for itself and ... demonstrate that the school district had knowledge of what was occurring and failed to take appropriate steps to stop hazing within the athletic program,” Barron said. “There has been a systemic failure by Norman North and Norman Public Schools to enforce policies and regulations.”

In a statement Wednesday, Norman Public Schools Superintendent Nicholas Migliorino said he couldn’t comment on the pending litigation but added “students are our top priority and allegations such as these are deeply troubling.”

Charges

One wrestler, Tanner Shane Shipman, then 18, was charged as an adult in the felony sex crimes case. In March, he pleaded no contest to lesser offenses, two misdemeanor counts of assault and battery, and was given six months’ probation.

The three other wrestlers, Sage Griffen Gandenberger, then 17, Chase Denton Smith, then 16, and Hunter Oren Matthews, then 17, initially were charged as youthful offenders. Their felony cases later were dismissed and refiled in juvenile court.

According to their attorneys, each of their juvenile cases has since been dismissed.

Shipman, Gandenberger and Smith had been accused of assaulting both teammates. They are listed as defendants in the lawsuit, alleged to have violated the school district’s bullying and sexual harassment policies.

Matthews had been accused of assaulting the 12-year-old teammate.

This is the second lawsuit to be filed related to the incident. The father of the younger teammate filed a negligence lawsuit in March in Cleveland County against Norman Public Schools. The father claims lax supervision led to his son being attacked.

After the incident, the four wrestlers were suspended from school.

A psychologist who evaluated the three youngest wrestlers reported he was told “the activity in question was part of a tradition in wrestling” known as “daunching,” “oil check” or “goosing.”