Staff Reports
Charges lodged against three Wilson High School baseball players and two coaches following a reported hazing incident on a bus in 2008 didn’t amount to much in 2009.
Now comes the civil cases.
Three Wilson High School varsity baseball players were arrested on felony charges in an alleged hazing incident said to have occurred April 17, 2008, on a bus ride back home from a game in Niagara Falls.
The story got intense local media attention and was seen on ESPN’s “Outside the Lines.”
After hearings, a non-jury trial and the exoneration of two students and two coaches, the case is still not over. Civil suits loom for the school, the coaches, the bus company and the alleged victims.
Geoffrey A. Seefeldt, 18, and 16-year-olds Colton J. Sherman and Christopher A. Sidote, were arrested on various counts of endangering the welfare of a child and third-degree aggravated sexual abuse.
There were about 30 students on the bus at the time, along with two coaches and two volunteer coaches. What actually happened has never been made public.
Charges against the teens were reduced in September 2008 after the District Attorney’s Office requested to refile charges.
Seefeldt, now graduated, pleaded guilty to child endangerment in June. In July, two other defendants were acquitted in a non-jury trial of charges that they abused junior varsity players.
The state police questioned all those who were on the bus, but those police reports were deemed inadmissible by Wilson Town Justice George R. Berger.
Coaches Thomas J. Baia Jr. and William Atlas were each charged with endangering the welfare of a child, a misdemeanor, but charges were dropped in July, and the two were hired back to their coaching positions in August after replacement coaches stepped aside.
Although the criminal cases are finished, civil charges still remain.
The three allegedly abused junior varsity players and their parents are suing Wilson Central School District. Their cases have reportedly been merged into one State Supreme Court order filed at the district’s request.
The civil suits are proceeding into 2010. The state police reports and district attorney filings, which were deemed inadmissible by Burger, should be available to the plaintiff’s lawyers and the school. However, the reports would be sealed from the public because minors are involved.
Wilson School District Superintendent Michael Wendt and principal Daniel Johnson are not allowed to discuss the legal proceedings.
