SYRACUSE, N.Y. (AP) — A group of high school students in upstate New York are being threatened with charges of kidnapping if they don’t turn themselves into authorities over a lacrosse team hazing prank in which participants are accused of staging an armed abduction of younger players.
Prosecutors allege members of the lacrosse program at Westhill High School in suburban Syracuse planned a team trip to McDonald’s that ended with one player being tied up, blindfolded and put into a trunk, Onondaga County District Attorney Bill Fitzpatrick said.
The alleged victim was led to believe he would be abandoned in a remote area, but was returned to his home without being physically harmed.
“I cannot adequately express to this community the level of stupidity and lack of judgment involved in this case,” Fitzpatrick told reporters Tuesday evening.
Fitzpatrick said a person driving five younger players on the team pretended to get lost, pulled over in a place where other participants in the prank lay in wait, armed with at least one knife and a weapon that appeared to be a gun.
That’s when the students launched the fake abduction. While the student wasn’t hurt physically, “emotionally, that’s going to be long term,” Fitzpatrick said.
“This is not lighting a bag on fire on Halloween and sticking it in your driveway, this is criminal activity,” he said, adding that it could have led to a fatal shooting if police had come across the scene and saw “a kid with a hood over his head being abducted at gunpoint.”
The events were captured on video, and Fitzpatrick said that the local sheriffs office identified 11 people they believe participated either directly or indirectly. in the ruse. He’s offering those people — some of whom are 18 — until Thursday to turn themselves in and face lower-level charges that would not result in jail time.
Those who don’t turn themselves in would face felony charges.
“Don’t come crying to me two weeks from now and say, ‘You charged my little baby with kidnapping.’ Yeah, that’s right. Most of my prosecutors can win cases that are on videotape,” said Fitzpatrick.
Messages seeking comment were left for Westhill School District Superintendent Steve Dunham.
In a statement provided to Syracuse.com earlier this week, he said: “Our top priority is always the physical safety, mental health and well-being of our students” and that “any behavior that negatively affects any of these aspects for other students will be addressed promptly and appropriately according to our Code of Conduct.”