Former baseball player at St. Joseph's University in Patchogue files lawsuit alleging assault, hazing by team members, court records show

A former member of the baseball team at St. Joseph’s University in Patchogue alleges he was forced to strip naked and was physically assaulted and hazed by his own teammates during a team trip in March — in what a lawsuit alleges was a longstanding pattern of hazing and misconduct that was allowed to continue unabated for years at the private Catholic school, a lawsuit filed Monday shows.

The suit, filed in State Supreme Court in Suffolk County on behalf of an 18-year-old Manorville resident, names the university, the baseball team's Head Coach Thomas Caputo, Assistant Coach Elliot Robles and 30 yet unidentified members of the team.

The suit makes claims of negligence, negligent supervision of student athletes, negligent hiring, retention and supervision of the coaching staff, assault and battery, intentional and negligent infliction of emotional distress and breach of contract.

The lawsuit does not allege the coaches physically participated in the assault. Instead, it contends university officials knew or should have known about prior hazing and failed to adequately supervise players or enforce the school’s anti-hazing policies.

In a statement, St. Joseph's said it was aware of the lawsuit.

"While we take concerns raised by members of our community seriously, this matter is currently the subject of pending litigation," the statement said. "Out of respect for that process, we are not in a position to comment on the allegations."

The university did not respond to requests for comment about the lawsuit or whether any players or coaches were disciplined, citing pending litigation.

The victim, who just finished his freshman year at the university, is currently in the process of transferring schools and is considering giving up playing baseball, according to Ronkonkoma-based attorney Mike Della, who filed the lawsuit.

The complaint, which seeks unspecified financial damages, said the plaintiff, who Newsday is not identifying because he is the victim of alleged hazing, suffered physical injuries, humiliation, severe emotional distress, anxiety, embarrassment, loss of educational and athletic opportunities and reputational damage.

In one incident recounted in the lawsuit, the plaintiff was pressured to strip naked and stand exposed before his teammates while covering himself with only a plastic cup. He declined to strip naked, the suit states.

 "Defendants permitted and fostered a culture of hazing and abuse within the baseball program — a culture that, by the coaching staff's own admission, manifested itself in violent misconduct on prior trips before the assault upon plaintiff," according to the lawsuit. 

St. Joseph's own investigation of the incident corroborated the victim's account, Della wrote in court papers.

But while Caputo, who has served as head coach of the Golden Eagles since 2022, told the plaintiff privately that witness statements were consistent with his version of events, the defendants nonetheless failed to take responsibility for the incident or to discipline the perpetrators, instead attempting to coerce the victim into taking responsibility for the encounter, the suit states. 

The victim, Della said, was ultimately suspended for his role in the altercation, while others were not punished.

The alleged hazing and abuse occurred during a March 5 team trip, the suit states. On that day, the St. Joseph Golden Eagles, a Division III team, were in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina playing Neumann University, according to the team's website.

Before the trip, Robles told the team that there would be room checks and supervision of the athletes that evening, the suit states.

"Despite such representations, and despite their knowledge of prior violent misconduct on team trips, defendant failed to conduct adequate room checks and failed to adequately supervise student athletes," Della wrote.

The hazing, Della said in an interview, was limited to new freshman athletes on the team.

During the trip, the plaintiff was "forcibly attacked by teammates," the suit states. "Among other acts, teammates forcibly placed dirty underwear on plaintiff's face and physically accosted him. Plaintiff was humiliated, threatened, intimidated, and physically assaulted, was placed in fear for his safety, and attempted to defend himself from the attack."

Della said his client fought back and a fight ensued that was eventually broken up by other teammates.

St. Joseph's Student Handbook, which incorporates the university's Code of Conduct, expressly prohibits hazing, including any behavior that places a student in danger or "demonstrates indifference or disregard for another person's rights, dignity or well-being," the suit states.

The handbook also outlines mandatory disciplinary procedures for violations of the code that the suit contends were not followed.

Misconduct on Golden Eagle team trips, the lawsuit states, is not new or isolated.

 Following the March incident, Caputo told the victim's parents that, on a team trip during a prior season, members of the baseball team, had attempted to kick down the door of a hotel room.

"Members of the baseball team also engaged in a practice of physically restraining and holding down teammates against their will, and such conduct was known within the baseball program," the suit states. " ... Defendants had actual and/or constructive notice, before the trip at issue, that members of the baseball team posed a foreseeable danger of engaging in violent, assaultive, and hazing conduct toward teammates when traveling together without adequate supervision."  

Founded in 1916 by the Sisters of St. Joseph, St. Joseph's University has two campuses: Patchogue and Brooklyn. The Long Island campus has more than 2,500 graduate and undergraduate students and offers more than 100 majors and minors, special course offerings and certificates, accelerated dual degrees and affiliated and pre-professional programs.

Newsday's Matt Lindsay contributed to this story.

By Robert Brodsky

robert.brodsky@newsday.com@BrodskyRobert

Robert Brodsky is a breaking news reporter who has worked at Newsday since 2011. He is a Queens College and American University alum.