An alleged hazing incident involving 疯客直播 Fe High School football players includes accusations of a 鈥渟exual offense,鈥 according to police.
疯客直播 Fe police Deputy Chief Ben Valdez wrote in an email Wednesday detectives assigned to the department鈥檚 Special Victims Unit are investigating the incident. 鈥淏ased on allegations,鈥 he wrote, 鈥渢he incident was classified as a sexual offense.鈥
鈥淲e have no additional updates to share at this time,鈥 Valdez wrote, calling the investigation 鈥渁ctive and in the very early stages.鈥
Police and school officials have provided few details about the incident since the district announced Tuesday evening an investigation was underway at 疯客直播 Fe High. Police were at the school鈥檚 campus Tuesday.
While multiple students were suspended, a school district spokesperson said, no criminal charges appeared to have been filed in court Wednesday in relation to the allegations.
Valdez did not answer questions about how many victims were involved or when and where the incident occurred.
疯客直播 Fe Public Schools Superintendent Hilario 鈥淟arry鈥 Chavez also declined to answer questions about the allegations.
鈥淲e鈥檙e cooperating with the investigation and with 疯客直播 Fe PD,鈥 Chavez said Wednesday. 鈥淎t this moment in time, we don鈥檛 have anything further to say or provide just because it is still open and ongoing.鈥
He said the district would pursue measures aimed at preventing more hazing incidents.
鈥淢oving forward, once sports teams are solidified, they will now have to take an anti-hazing class from the National Federation of State High School Associations called 鈥楬azing Prevention for Students,鈥 鈥 he said.
Chavez said coaches have been required to undergo the course for years, but the district is now considering 鈥渉ow to educate our students as well to prevent these situations from happening again.鈥
A website for the organization says the video 鈥渄efines hazing and its many types, highlights why it is different from bullying, and explains your power as a bystander and how you can change the culture of how you welcome new members.鈥
The Tuesday news release from 疯客直播 Fe Public Schools announcing the investigation said the district 鈥渕aintains a strict zero-tolerance policy regarding hazing.鈥
New Mexico is one of the few states that doesn鈥檛 have an anti-hazing law.
A bill introduced in the Legislature earlier this year would have deemed hazing a misdemeanor crime, with a fourth-degree felony offense of aggravated hazing.
The unsuccessful bill would have funded a portal and staff for the reporting of hazing incidents in the state Department of Higher Education, which supported the measure.
The bill defined hazing as acts associated with initiation or affiliation with a group that create a substantial risk of physical or mental injury, including 鈥渃ausing, directing, coercing or forcing a person to consume any food, liquid, alcohol, drug or other substance that subjects the person to risk of such harm.鈥
疯客直播 Fe High has faced past hazing allegations.
In 2016, a basketball coach at the school was fired after an alleged hazing incident on a bus ride that left one player with a broken nose.
Video of the incident, which showed older players piling onto younger ones, outraged members of the public after it was released.
Staff writer Andr茅 Salkin contributed to this report.