High School Basketball Players Charged With Rape After Sodomizing Teammate With Pool Stick

Three high school basketball players from Ooltewah, Tennessee have been charged with rape and assault for an incident with a teammate, according to the Chattanoogan. The team was in Gatlinburg, Tennessee for a basketball tournament and according to the story, staying in a rented log cabin.

The victim was a 15-year-old freshman, who was allegedly raped by anal penetration with a pool cue. The victim had to be rushed to the hospital and have emergency surgery, and had a ruptured colon and bladder. A family member of the victim, speaking with the Chattanoogan, said that the others had used a wooden pool stick to sodomize the victim. The victim is expected to need 2-3 months to recover. The alleged perpetrators, all 17 years old or younger, are being held in a juvenile facility in Gatlinburg.

Last year, I wrote about hazing at the high school level and a growing trend of reported stories on anal penetration, often with objects. This one would be a particularly egregious example of that, though the fact that this goes on in any form as a rite of passage in 2015 is very disturbing.