The Warren Police Department has begun interviewing students, with parents present, and plans to interview every member of the Warren De La Salle varsity football team amid a hazing incident that led the school to cancel its state playoff game last week.
Warren Police Commissioner Bill Dwyer said he has assigned five investigators to the case, and hopes they can conclude all interviews, including with school staff, administrators and football coaches, by Thursday.
Given it’s an ongoing investigation, Dwyer declined to say how many people were allegedly involved in the hazing, or exactly when the incident took place.
He did say, however, that the incident was “very recent.”
Dwyer also clarified comments he made in the press last week, when he called out De La Salle officials for trying to keep the investigation in-house rather than go to police first. De La Salle president John M. Knight told media outlets, including The Detroit News, on Friday that Dwyer’s comments were “inaccurate.”
Dwyer on Tuesday explained the situation like this: On Thursday morning and Thursday afternoon, De La Salle officials placed two calls to the police department, to a detective that was off work for several days. De La Salle officials left voicemails for that detective, and Dwyer was in the dark when the media started calling Thursday night.
“They should’ve contacted me or somebody, but they left voicemails,” Dwyer told The News. “They should have called the police commissioner or somebody of rank rather than leave a voice mail for somebody who might be out of town for a few weeks.”
