ORLANDO, Fla., June 23 (UPI) -- A Florida judge has refused to dismiss battery charges against three young men accused of beating up a high school student in an alleged hazing incident.
Judge Robert Egan ordered the trial of three teens accused of attacking an Orlando high school freshman football player last year to begin Wednesday, the Orlando Sentinel reported.
The victim, 16-year-old Darrion Denson, testified the upperclassmen beat him, threw him headfirst into a trash can and hurled chairs at him after he walked into a varsity football locker room last September to retrieve his practice pants.
His attackers were varsity members of the high-school team who "warned" him to get out of their locker room because he hadn't earned the right to be there, he testified.
When asked if he knew the attackers, Denson said yes and he "even looked up to some of them."
Some defense witnesses testified there were signs outside the locker room prohibiting all other students from entering.
A spokeswoman for Orange County Public Schools said the district was "unaware of any signs posted denying anyone access to the varsity locker room."
Judge Egan, presiding over a bench trial with no jury present, will make a ruling after both sides rest, the Sentinel reported.
