| By Bob Weaver
Grantsville State Police are interviewing school officials, and football players allegedly involved in a hazing-type incident with a 16-year-old player at Calhoun High School's football practice last week.
State Police are saying it is a battery investigation.
Cpl. Doug Starcher, who is handling the investigation, said "I need to do a bunch of interviews and find out what happened."
"The info I have obtained so far is there has been some horseplay...I don't think anything out of the ordinary," he said.
Sherry Patterson of Orma, the player's mother, told Charleston Newspapers that her son, identified as Mitchell Patterson, was attacked by four of his Red Devil teammates August 7th in the weight room, one of them choking him until he passed out.
Charleston Daily Mail Story
"When he came to, she [Patterson] said he was lying on his stomach with his wrists and ankles taped tightly," the Daily Mail reported.
Patterson told the Herald she will be filing formal charges with the school system regarding the incident.
She said her son had played football for several years, but has now dropped from the Calhoun school system and will be attending school in a neighboring county.
School superintendent Jane Lynch told the Parkersburg News "I had a phone call from a parent, which caused me to look further in it," saying the school is conducting its own investigation.
"Whatever other agencies are doing an investigation, they will do it independent of us...We will look to see if anything else needs done," Lynch said.
"Punishment will depend on the findings," she told the Parkersburg News.
Lynch said she had not spoken with investigating authorities. "We trust them to do their job and let us know what they think we need to know," she concluded.
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