Henry students speak out on hazing and bullying

HENRY, S.D. (KELO) — Lukas Dukes, Tieson Jenner, and Hoyt Livingston were scared to tell anyone about what was happening on the school bus on the way to and from football practice.

“But there’s been multiple times that we have been threatened that if we share anything that happened on the bus, that we will be hurt even more and be beaten and abused more and harder if we share,” Tieson Jenner said.

However, the boys knew they had to do something.

“I have very good friends in younger classes and I do not want this to happen to them. I do not want them to go through the same thing that us boys had to,” Jenner said.

The boys say it got so bad they wanted to quit the sport they loved.

“They’d like, buckle the seat belts and put them on the floor and then they’d have us trip, and then I fell in the emergency door and they started beating me up in the corner and throwing football gear on me,” Hoyt Livingston said.

Henry school addressing ‘bullying’ and ‘hazing’

“They grab you and hold you there and just hit you, completely. As hard as they can, over and over until you just want to just, like, not do anything and also just quit. Have nothing to live for. And it hurts to be hit by older kids,” Dukes said.

“There has also been times that I would not give them my water bottle to have them drink out of it so they would take their cleats and smash up against my arms. And leave marks on my arms and bruises,” Jenner said.

“We can’t change in the locker room. We have to change on the bus. If we go in the locker room, they will beat us up,” Livingston said.

“I’ve been held down by seniors. And one of the seniors has lifted up my shirt and the other one has pelted me in the back with the seatbelt. More than five times, repeatedly,” Jenner said.

“They take the seatbelt, unloosen it, and then they would just hit us with the seatbelt repeatedly, until they don’t want to no more,” Lukas Dukes said.

It wasn’t only teammates who the boys say were part of the problem…

“Every time that we have to get on that bus. The first thing he says, our bus driver says is, okay, guys, again, I will be going over the speed limit very fast so we can get you there and back so that I can get home and drink alcohol,” Jenner said.

“And then if, if we stand up–like, they have us go throw trash and stuff, then he just keeps on slamming on the brakes,” Livingston said.

The boys hope by coming forward, other kids who might be in similar situations will do the same.

“It’s been a scary, scary week for us, but as soon as a group of us, as friends, we have found the courage and the strength and power to share. Tell the truth about what happened, because it needs to end,” Jenner said.

We continue to reach out to the sheriff’s office to see if any charges will be filed in the case, in either adult or juvenile court. We will let you know if there’s an update.