By City News Service
LOS ANGELES (CNS) - A former member of the La Puente High School soccer team -- which last year became the focus of sexually oriented hazing allegations -- filed suit on Thursday against the Hacienda La Puente Unified School District.
Luis Enrique Hernandez brought his complaint in Los Angeles Superior Court, also naming soccer coach Bahram Alavi and La Puente High Assistant Principal Fernando Sanchez. He alleges sexual battery, sexual harassment, false imprisonment, negligence and intentional infliction of emotional distress.
The suit seeks unspecified damages. Interim HLPUSD Supt. Cynthia Parulan- Colfer did not immediately return a call for comment.
According to the complaint, Hernandez joined the soccer team in November 2011 and immediately afterward was ``physically attacked and sexually assaulted by fellow teammates in a tradition of initiating new players into the varsity soccer team that demanded sexual compliance.''
The assault, which included sodomy, was part of a hazing practice called the ``pole tradition,'' the suit states.
The initiation has been a tradition with the high school's soccer team for more than a decade, the suit states. The practice was "performed in the team's locker room with Alavi hearing the screams of students in his office, which is adjacent to the locker room,'' according to the lawsuit.
The behavior occurred due to the negligent supervision of Sanchez, the suit states.
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