High school refs say they were barricaded in Grove City locker room
A high school football officiating crew has filed a report with the Grove City Police Department after being barricaded inside their locker room at the conclusion of a game between Grove City and Central Crossing on Sept. 10.
According to the report, the door had been barricaded by a vending machine.
The crew members attempted to leave the locker room inside Grove City’s recreation center after completing their postgame review and were unable to open the door.
According to the police report, they knocked on the door for 15 to 20 minutes and received no help.
Eventually, one of the officials was able to force the door open far enough that they could squeeze out through a small gap.
One of the officials told NBC4 that he believes they were trapped in the locker room because of a controversial call the crew made against Grove City, which led to one of the team's assistant coaches receiving a penalty for unsportsmanlike conduct after arguing the call.
Other officials told police in their initial report that the Grove City assistant approached them in a “very threatening manner” after the game and had to be restrained by other Grove City coaches.
Grove City's principal, Bryan O'shea, reported the moving of the vending machine to the police on Sept. 13 — four days before the officials went to the police department to file their report. O'shea said there are no surveillance cameras inside the building that houses the locker room.
In a statement provided to The Dispatch, the South-western City School District said an investigation into who moved the vending machine to be in front of the locker room door is ongoing.
“As an immediate corrective step, we are assigning a Grove City Police Department officer to monitor the hallway area around the officials' locker room during halftime and at the conclusion of each future contest to ensure everyone will have a safe and positive experience at our athletic contests in the future,” the district's statement said. “We are continuing our investigation to determine who was responsible for this incident so we can take action regarding their behavior. Such conduct has no place in our school community.”
The officials involved in the incident could not be reached for comment. bjohnson@dispatch.com @baileyajohnson_