NATRONA HEIGHTS (AP) – The attorney for a Pennsylvania high school soccer coach says he wasn’t present, didn’t condone and didn’t know about an incident in which two players duct-taped an autistic teammate to a goal post.
Attorney Julian Neiser defended Highlands High School coach Jim Turner a day after reports that Turner has been suspended for five days while school officials investigate the incident.
Last year’s team captain, who has since graduated, also defended the coach and tells the (Tarentum) Valley News Dispatch (http://bit.ly/1shVKfu) that the duct-taping is an annual ritual that occurs the same night that underclassmen on the team toilet paper the houses of senior players.
Kristie Babinsack acknowledges allowing her 16-year-old son to participate in the toilet-papering, but says he was traumatized when the upperclassmen chose to duct-tape him Sunday evening.
