Williams: Rye incident was no mere 'prank'

Using a plank of wood to beat children until they are bruised doesn't seem like a very pleasant way to welcome eighth-graders to high school.

But in Rye, such a "tradition" of initiating graduating middle-schoolers is an annual occurrence. Called "Freshman Friday," juniors at Rye High School play "pranks" and do other less-than-pleasant things to the younger students, presumably in fun. But this year's rite of passage, police arrests prove, was unusually violent.

Two of the victims said the juniors forced them into a car on Friday and took them to the Marshlands Conservancy, where they were beaten with paddles, resulting in bruises on their buttocks and legs.

On Monday, Westchester County police charged Max Meyerson, 16; Sean Pinson, 17; and Tristan Scragg, 17, all of Rye, with second-degree assault, a felony, and first-degree hazing and second-degree unlawful imprisonment, both misdemeanors. One victim's injuries landed him in the hospital.

Standing in his driveway on Tuesday, Scragg told a News 12 Westchester reporter, "You don't even know what happened." He went on to say that the facts would come out in court.

No, we don't yet know all that happened, but we do know this: In the name of "tradition" and "pranks," children were beaten. Badly. And that sounds very much like hazing, which has led to deaths at two prestigious colleges of late.

Last November, a drum major at Florida A&M University was beaten to death following a band performance in Orlando, in what has been reported as a hazing incident. FAMU President James Ammons suspended the band shortly after Robert Champion's death, which resulted in 11 band members being charged with felony hazing charges. Ammons then suspended the band for a year, to clean up a culture of hazing that has pervaded the group.

And at Cornell University, sophomore George Desdunes of Brooklyn was found unconscious on the couch of the Sigma Alpha Epsilon house in February 2011 and was later pronounced dead. His death followed an incident that included a mock kidnapping, coerced drinking, and having his hands and feet bound with duct tape and zip ties. Three other fraternity pledges at Cornell have pleaded not guilty to misdemeanor charges, and their fate is currently in the hands of a Tompkins County Court judge. Last June, Desdunes' mother filed a multimillion-dollar wrongful-death lawsuit against the national fraternity.

There are likely many students and parents who believe that these extreme cases only represent the worst of the 'tradition.' They believe, rightly, that actual hazing deaths are rare. But consider this: It most certainly could be your son, daughter, niece, nephew, grandchild, or friend who is an eventual victim of this practice. Don't assume that the harm caused by "pranks" will automatically bypass your loved one, because that's just not always so.

So let's stop referring to this practice as a "prank" or a "tradition." Turkey and Aunt Mary's sweet potato casserole on Thanksgiving are traditions. Wearing your school's colors at the homecoming game is a tradition. Crank telephone calls are "pranks." Beating classmates with a piece of wood is not a tradition, it's a potential felony.

Kudos to Westchester County police who moved expertly and expediently to investigate the case, round up the suspects and publicly identify them. That's an excellent way to put other future "pranksters" on notice that such behavior will be prosecuted. Let that message ring true elsewhere, as well.

Gayle T. Williams, a journalist for nearly 30 years, lives in Greenburgh. She's an editor at Consumer Reports. The opinions expressed here are her own.

This is a corrected version of the column. Due to an editing error, an earlier version named the wrong News 12 affiliate.