High school lacrosse team accused of killing guinea pig, using blood like face paint

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Source: Washington Post

By Ben Guarino May 11 at 2:51 AM
@bbguari

Lacrosse, to hear historians tell it, has always been a high-energy, high-contact sport. Reports of injuries from slashing sticks, head-butts and spiked shoes date back to the Aboriginal Canadian game that served as lacrosse’s inspiration. ... In an alleged case of one lacrosse team’s bonding taken to a bloody extreme, however, the violence was not aimed at humans but at a small animal, possibly a guinea pig.

At least 10 members of a high school lacrosse team in Michigan have been questioned about the possible guinea pig slaying, Detroit’s Fox 2 news reports. A few students purportedly painted their faces with the animal’s blood. The Grosse Ile High School lacrosse players, an unnamed source tells Fox 2, killed the animal prior to a match earlier in May. Whatever the Grosse Ile Red Devils were hoping to achieve, it failed, as the rival Dexter Dreadnaughts won 13 to 6.
....

If the animal was indeed a guinea pig or another vertebrate, it is protected from cruelty under Michigan law. According to the state’s penal code, the “owner, possessor, or person having the charge or custody of an animal shall not” beat the animal, nor “negligently allow any animal, including one who is aged, diseased, maimed, hopelessly sick, disabled, or nonambulatory to suffer unnecessary neglect, torture, or pain.” Last winter, a Michigan woman plead guilty to animal cruelty charges after abandoning her pets, including a guinea pig that starved to death.
....

Parents and students in the township told Local 4 that several, but not all, of the lacrosse players were involved in a “sacrifice” of the animal, going as far to claim that a few smeared their faces with its remains; one member of the Red Devils, according to the allegations, ingested the animal’s blood.




Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2016/05/11/high-school-lacrosse-team-accused-of-killing-guinea-pig-using-blood-like-face-paint

---

In GD: Grosse Ile H.S. lacrosse team accused of killing animal before game

Original local newspaper article: Grosse Ile H.S. lacrosse team accused of killing animal before game

[jberryhill]

1. Whether cruelty, under that statute, was involved depends on how they killed it

It is not illegal to "kill a guinea pig" under that statute.

It would be illegal to torture it to death, but if they killed it swiftly then what is the problem?

[mahatmakanejeeves]

4. I'm going to leave that to the Michigan judicial system.

I just devoted a half-hour to seeing what was the charge when someone tied a noose around the statue of James Meredith in Oxford, Mississippi. See: More about that. First, what was the charge?

Enter that morass at your own risk.

IANAL, but I think you already had that figured out.

Best wishes.

[jberryhill]

8. This one is pretty straightforward

The relevant part of the Michigan animal cruelty statute is:

http://www.legislature.mi.gov/%28S%283gcj2mtlsdqfmtr2osqg0m4k%29%29/mileg.aspx?page=GetObject&objectname=mcl-750-50

(2) An owner, possessor, or person having the charge or custody of an animal shall not do any of the following:

(a) Fail to provide an animal with adequate care.

(b) Cruelly drive, work, or beat an animal, or cause an animal to be cruelly driven, worked, or beaten.

(c) Carry or cause to be carried in or upon a vehicle or otherwise any live animal having the feet or legs tied together, other than an animal being transported for medical care, or a horse whose feet are hobbled to protect the horse during transport or in any other cruel and inhumane manner.

(d) Carry or cause to be carried a live animal in or upon a vehicle or otherwise without providing a secure space, rack, car, crate, or cage, in which livestock may stand, and in which all other animals may stand, turn around, and lie down during transportation, or while awaiting slaughter. As used in this subdivision, for purposes of transportation of sled dogs, "stand" means sufficient vertical distance to allow the animal to stand without its shoulders touching the top of the crate or transportation vehicle.

(e) Abandon an animal or cause an animal to be abandoned, in any place, without making provisions for the animal's adequate care, unless premises are vacated for the protection of human life or the prevention of injury to a human. An animal that is lost by an owner or custodian while traveling, walking, hiking, or hunting is not abandoned under this section when the owner or custodian has made a reasonable effort to locate the animal.

(f) Negligently allow any animal, including one who is aged, diseased, maimed, hopelessly sick, disabled, or nonambulatory to suffer unnecessary neglect, torture, or pain.

(g) Tether a dog unless the tether is at least 3 times the length of the dog as measured from the tip of its nose to the base of its tail and is attached to a harness or nonchoke collar designed for tethering.

------

The part I highlighted deals with "neglect, torture or pain".

It certainly wasn't neglected, so whether it suffered "torture or pain" depends on how they killed it.

I'm pretty sure that Michigan is not locking up people who leave guinea pigs to the tender mercies of their young children who decide to determine whether Fluffy likes to swim underwater, etc.

[niyad]

15. so. . . you have no problem with the inherent sickness and ugliness of what these

sports heroes did?

apart from whether or not it meets the statutory definition of cruelty, these "athletes" are seriously fucked up to think that what they did was okay, and so is anybody who defends them on any grounds.

[jberryhill]

19. What an absurd suggestion

You seem to have difficulty understanding the difference between (a) my opinion about killing animals, and (b) Michigan's law on the subject.

Let me ask you something, do you have a problem with actually writing down laws on paper and only convicting people of crimes if they have violated the laws that were written down on paper?

It is legal to stand on the sidewalk, pick your nose and yell "Asshole!" at every passing car. Do I approve of that activity? No. Should people be locked up by the state for doing it? I guess you'd say yes.


these "athletes" are seriously fucked up to think that what they did was okay, and so is anybody who defends them on any grounds.

Do you have a problem with the Sixth Amendment to the Constitution?

People like you - of the "lock 'em up because they did something I don't like, but isn't actually illegal" variety - are pretty scary.

Michigan does not have some general law which prohibits "killing an animal". Michigan does have a law against torturing animals. Apparently, you are okay with this, since you would rather make absurd accusations against someone who points out this gap between "what Michigan law says" and "what we would like Michigan law to say", than to suggest that perhaps the law needs changing.

[niyad]

20. nice try dear. I didn't say anything about locking these twisted lttle assholes up, I simply said

that they are sick, and so is anybody who defends them on the grounds that maybe they didn't actually break a law.

one can be opposed to people and their actions without saying they should be locked up. but, it is fun watching you try to twist things.

[jberryhill]

21. I was responding to the article in the OP which says

"If the animal was indeed a guinea pig or another vertebrate, it is protected from cruelty under Michigan law."

My comment was "Whether cruelty, under that statute, was involved depends on how they killed it".

Since my comment was directed to the topic of potential criminal liability under the Michigan animal cruelty statute, I think the "twisting", sweetheart, was in your implication that I had expressed some sort of approval of what they did.

[Old Vet]

22. You are spot on niyad, Straight up sick fucks.............

period. The older I get the more it pisses me off how so many abuse the most defenseless animals.

[jtuck004]

2. Nice precursor to serial murder of humans, They usually start on animals. n/t

[kairos12]

11. That is my thought exactly. Bunch of sick f....s

[packman]

18. Yes, I was about to post the same

begin with those unable to defend themselves. If they wanted to prove their "manliness" they should have stripped naked , arm themselves with a knife and gone into a pit with a grizzly or lion. Assholes.

[Sunlei]

3. guinea pig was my first pet. Some 'teen' gangs' are so cruel to animals & people.

[djg21]

5. What assholes.

While killing any animal for a purpose like this is unjustifiable, there is something really ironic about big and tough lacrosse players "sacrificing" a domesticated Guinea pig. Such a gesture is hardly fear-inspiring and actually is pretty pathetic. I hope the athletes are prosecuted and end up with felony convictions. You cannot fix stupid.

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

7. I don't know how big and tough they are, but they enjoy privilege.

Middle, upper-middle, and beyond classes. 95% white, 2.5% asian, the remainder are diverse.

They would take their lacrosse seriously. As much as polo.

[underpants]

6. Lacrosse - always there when you realize your redshirt 'burb kid isn't getting a soccer scholarship

My apologies to the people of Maryland.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

10. Lacrosse is one of Maryland's two state sports.

List of Maryland state symbols

[underpants]

14. Jousting

Yes I'm aware. Lived in Baltimore for a year, was amazed at the lacrosse goals in the front yard instead of bball hoops.

[tabasco]

9. Stupid douchebags.

Charge them with animal cruelty.

[marble falls]

12. Were's the freaking adult that either came up with the idea or allowed it to happen?

[houston16revival]

13. Let's not forget GWB's

childhood encounters with frogs

It was the rage in summer 2000

Surely there's an article about it still online

Perhaps this poor guinea pig was the lacrosse ball?

[TygrBright]

16. Welcome to Trump's America. n/t

[Blue_Tires]

17. +1

[13Dogs]

23. Cowards

What a bunch of pathetic losers, not to mention violent criminals in training. This combination of arrogance and stupidity in the treatment of defenseless animals makes my blood boil. It's a good thing I didn't witness it, because some of those assholes wouldn't have been in any shape to walk let alone play a game. True fuckwads