Ex-La Puente High Soccer Player Sues District Over Alleged Sexual Hazing
LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) — A former La Puente High School soccer player has filed a lawsuit against Hacienda La Puente Unified School District over the team's alleged sexual hazing rituals.
Luis Enrique Hernandez also named soccer coach Bahram Alavi and La Puente High Assistant Principal Fernando Sanchez in the complaint, which was filed in Los Angeles Superior Court.
The suit, which seeks unspecified damages, alleges sexual battery, sexual harassment, false imprisonment, negligence and intentional infliction of emotional distress.
Hernandez said he joined the soccer team in November 2011 and was "physically attacked and sexually assaulted by fellow teammates in a tradition of initiating new players into the varsity soccer team that demanded sexual compliance," according to the complaint.
The suit states that the assault, which included sodomy, was part of a practice dubbed the "pole tradition" and was "performed in the team's locker room with Alavi hearing the screams of students in his office, which is adjacent to the locker room."
Sanchez's negligence was cited as the reason for the ongoing situation, the suit stated.
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