Warren De La Salle: There is no cover-up; police involved in football hazing investigation

Tresa Baldas | Detroit Free Press

Show Caption Hide Caption West Bloomfield wins hard-hitting affair over Warren De La Salle Highlights from the Week 9 game as West Bloomfield defeated Warren De La Salle on Friday, Oct. 25, 2019.

Police and school officials say Warren De La Salle Collegiate is cooperating in a hazing investigation involving claims that varsity football players used broomsticks in a sexual manner to initiate younger players.

According to sources familiar with the investigation, no penetration was involved in the hazing incidents that prompted the all-boys Catholic school to abruptly forfeit Friday's playoff game and end its season. The two-time defending state champion had won three titles in the past five years.

De La Salle has said the hazing took place in the locker room and involved several players — both those who engaged in it and those who witnessed it but did not tell.

This was one of the reasons, sources said, that the school chose to forfeit the playoffs: Too many players on the team knew about it, so the whole team paid the price.

On Friday, De La Salle President John Knight refuted earlier claims by Warren Police Commissioner Bill Dwyer that the school did not want a police investigation and preferred to handle it internally. He said that he called a police detective twice Thursday — once at 8 a.m., and again at 4 p.m. — and that an investigation already was underway.

"We are 100 percent cooperating and we value our partnership with the Warren Police Department," Knight told the Free Press, stressing there was a misunderstanding between the school and Dwyer.

As for the allegations involving broomsticks, Knight said: "I cannot comment on any particulars because it's now a police investigation."

Knight alerted school parents about the decision to forfeit the playoffs in an email Thursday afternoon, stating: "We are sorry to report that we have recently discovered a series of hazing incidents conducted by several players on our varsity football team ... as a result we have made the difficult but appropriate decision to forfeit Friday's football game which will end the season."

In a follow-up news release, De La Salle said "the hazing has deeper roots, and is more pervasive than originally thought."

Knight did, however, talk about the decision to end the football team's season — a move he concedes hurt many students who were not involved.

"Early in the investigation that was done in-house, it was clear that there were a number of troubling factors ... it became clear to us that the right thing to do was to live by what we say we are: 'Builders of Boys, Makers of Men,' and to not play the game under this cloud and under these troubling issues we are looking at."

It wasn't an easy decision, Knight said.

"What makes this decision heart-wrenching is that we are aware of the fact that there are young men who are suffering and were not involved in this situation," he said. "Their disappointment is understood and felt by the administration. For that, we feel sad, too."

More Warren De La Salle coverage:

Hazing incidents force Warren De La Salle high school football to forfeit playoffs

Warren De La Salle football hazing claims: Players were violated with sticks, sources say

DLS said that after learning of the hazing allegations earlier this week, it contacted a lawyer, who referred the case to a detective in the Warren police department.

Dwyer said he was never made aware of that, and that he only learned about the hazing allegations on Thursday, when Knight called him and allegedly said: "We've got it under control ... We don't need the police involved."

On Friday morning, Dwyer said that De La Salle administrators were in his office and cooperating, and that there had been a misunderstanding due to the investigation going through a different chain of command: The school first went to a lawyer for advice, then a detective was notified, then him.

Dwyer confirmed that the police are investigating, and that De La Salle is cooperating.

Free Press writer Mick McCabe contributed. Contact Tresa Baldas: tbaldas@freepress.com