Hoffman Estates basketball team investigated for hazing - Chicago News and Weather | FOX 32 News

Some players on the varsity basketball team at Hoffman Estates High School are accused of hazing and police are now investigating to see if they could face criminal charges.

There are 14 players on the boys' varsity basketball team at Hoffman Estates. The juniors and seniors didn't play ball this past weekend because the team has been forced to forfeit three games, after their coach learned the boys had been hazing rookie players.

Players told school officials that they played pile-on. Players piled onto a targeted player, then grabbed, slapped, or hit that player in the buttocks. The players were clothed at the time of each "initiation pile on."

More than a dozen school officials, including the superintendent interviewed all of the players and learned the incident occurred off-campus. The 14 players got together without coaches supervision and "engaged in an initiation process that included physical and sexual misconduct."

Hoffman Estates police were immediately called in, as well as the Department of Children and Family Services. School officials released a statement this evening, stating, "the investigation revealed that the sexual misconduct initially reported did not occur. DCFS determined that they would take no action."

But the school board did learn that, "the players had engaged in a clear pattern of initiation behavior that violated the districts hazing policies."

Hoffman Estates police are working with school officials and the district to figure out if anything criminal occurred.

"That determination has not been made as of this time," a Hoffman Estates Police Sergeant says. "Our school resource officer is looking into the matter and working closely with the school district to see if we need to proceed in a criminal matter."