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Former Florida high school baseball players sue after alleged 'Oreo run' hazing

Participants were told to put an Oreo between their buttocks and race; the loser would have to eat the cookie, the lawsuit claims.
Credit: ROBYN BECK/AFP/Getty Images
A display of Oreo cookie variations is seen at The Museum of Failure in Los Angeles on December 7, 2017.

TARPON SPRINGS, Fla. — Two former East Lake High School students claim they were subjected to racial and sexual harassment during a hazing ritual called the "Oreo run" by players on the baseball team.

Jay King and J.N., a minor, and their parents are suing Pinellas County schools after the players said their teammates took them to a secluded wooded area behind the baseball fields. The two would be intimidated in participating in the run, which involved an Oreo cookie placed in one's buttocks and racing others.

The losers of the race would be forced to eat the used Oreo.

The lawsuit claims J.N. broke free from the group in an attempt not to participate.

"... he desperately ran through the muddy, wooded area behind the school, and was chased after by other players, yelling verbal insults at him and trying to grab him," the lawsuit reads.

Only when J.N. threatened to call 911, the other players stopped, they claim.

Since the alleged incident, J.N. and King say they suffered from retaliation from teammates and coaches. Some members on the team during the 2017-18 school year would expose their genitals to them during exercises as acts of sexual depravity, the lawsuit claims.

Some teammates also are said to have called them the N-word.

The students and their parents, Shannon Norwood and Charlie King, are suing for $15,000 in damages. The lawsuit was filed Jan. 24 in Pinellas County District Court.

"Pinellas County Schools fully investigated the incident both internally and externally and found there was no negligence on the part of our staff," said school district spokeswoman Lisa Wolf in a statement.

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