El Cerrito High football team suspended

New at 5, the football program at El Cerrito High School has been suspended because of a widening investigation into alleged hazing by members of the team going back years. KTVU crime reporter Henry Lee, live tonight at the El Cerrito Police Department with more on this investigation. Henry. Well, Mike and Claudine, the El Cerrito Police investigation is ongoing. No football players have been arrested at this point, but the school district tells me they made a difficult decision to put the football program on hold so as to protect students. A grounds crew hard at work at El Cerrito High School, even as the football program has been abruptly suspended because of a hazing investigation. The suspects, nearly two dozen current and former players. The students that were being hazed were other members on the football team. El Cerrito Police Captain Lauren Caputo says the investigation began in October when the department was notified of serious hazing allegations going back to 2024 and continuing through this season. Some of the hazing acts involved allegations of battery, sexual battery, stalking, dissuading a witness. Police say as many as 22 students or alumni could potentially be arrested as a result of an ongoing investigation that's included interviews with players and video evidence. Just hours after police went public with the allegations, the West Contra Costa Unified School District announced it's immediately suspending the school's football program because of the widening scope of the case. The Gauchos would have played their last game of the season on Friday and were supposed to be heading on to the playoffs. This is a very difficult decision and it's one that unfortunately we must make in the interest of student safety. Liz Sanders, an assistant superintendent, says the district has launched a Title IX investigation being led by an independent third party. The actions that have been reported to our staff and to the El Cerrito Police Department are actions that no child should ever experience. Officials would not say if any students have been disciplined, but head football coach Tim Johnson Johnson, seen here in an interview last year with KTVU, is now on leave. I wouldn't even call hazing. It was more like just playing around type of thing. I spoke to a current member of the team who did not want his face shown. He says suspending the football program is an overreaction. No one in the team never had bad intentions or anything. And no one really ever took it personal or anything. Every time I saw anything, everyone was just laughing around and it was all a joke. Now I reached out to the head coach but he did not respond to my request for comment. El Cerrito police are asking anyone with information about this hazing investigation to give them a call. Live in El Cerrito, Henry Lee, KTVU, Fox 2 News.