Records spell out witness accounts of Firelands wrestling incident

SOUTH AMHERST — Wrestling coach Josh Walbom allegedly hit an eighth grader in November during an incident that led to the end of his tenure with the Firelands Falcons. Investigative files released Tuesday by the Lorain County Sheriff's Office include witness accounts on the Nov. 23 incident that resulted in Walbom being put on paid leave until the end of his coaching contract. Provided after a public records request, the documents indicate Walbom was infuriated when he learned the eighth grader had made disparaging remarks about his son's girlfriend's chest size during an altercation on a Firelands school bus. On the advice of his lawyer, Superintendent Mike Von Gunten has declined to comment on the record about the investigation into Walbom. But he told deputies that Walbom screamed at the eighth grade boy because of the bus fight with his son, and said the coach singled out the boy "with fists clenched." That's when the boy said Walbom hit him in the leg, but did not leave any marks or bruises. The coach also allegedly used his fist to push the sitting child against a wall. "I'll just have the high-schoolers take care of you," he allegedly told the boy before assigning his team captains to dish out punishment. They started with sprinting drills often referred to as "suicides." The boy also had to do lunges and squats while holding a 45-pound weight over his head. Then Walbom had all Falcons wrestlers with sisters line up to repeatedly take down the eighth-grader, witnesses told Deputy Cody Northeim. "Some wrestlers slammed (the boy) because he was much younger and smaller and others performed wrestling moves to take him down," Northeim wrote. The middle-schooler weighed 150 pounds and was forced to wrestle senior athletes that weighed up to 220 pounds, his report said. Each takedown lasted 10 seconds or less, and Walbom reportedly told wrestlers not to hurt him, according to a statement from Coach Jonathan Handwerk, who was only present for the final minutes of the incident. The "hazing" was so bad the child said he almost urinated himself, according to the report. The boy also made trips to a garbage can to vomit, though it's unclear whether he did so or just dry-heaved before returning to the mat. Walbom later told the child to "get out of the room and he does not want to see him talking about women, family members or anything," according to one witness. Outside the room, Walbom allegedly told the boy there was no need to tell his father. Assistant coach Raymond Adams told Northeim he didn't see Walbom put his hands on the boy, but did feel the discipline was over the top. Another assistant coach, Douglas Childers, said he believed it was a "reasonable, normal wrestling workout," but Northeim's report questioned whether Childers was in the room during the incident. Northeim's report said Walbom told the entire team that his son was justified for his actions because he stood up for his girlfriend. Walbom did not allow his son, also a wrestler, to make a witness statement. Northeim said he was contacted by Walbom's attorney and was told not to have contact with the family. Walbom was charged with hazing and aggravated menacing, both misdemeanors. Those charges were dropped by prosecutor Farah Emeka earlier this month. She told Oberlin Municipal Court Judge Thomas Januzzi that the eighth grader was traumatized by the events giving rise to the charge and therefore the state no longer wished to pursue the charge. "While your actions may or may not have have constituted the criminal act of hazing, the nonrenewal of your employment with the district is not dependent on criminal sanctions and is an entirely separate matter," Von Gunten told Walbom in an April 15 letter, also obtained through a request under Ohio's public records law. The circumstances warranted a report to Children Services, the Lorain County Sheriff's Office, the Ohio Department of Education Office of Professional Conduct and the Ohio High School Athletic Association, Von Gunten wrote. He said Walbom decided on a punishment primarily on what he heard from his son, without investigating further, without talking to the bus driver or viewing surveillance camera footage and without consulting any school administrator. "Further, while the takedown drill may be a common wrestling exercise, it was utilized in this situation to discipline and humiliate a student and not to further a student's athletic skill," Von Gunten said. He also wrote that Walbom should not have used his authority in a disciplinary matter concerning his own son. Attorney Giovanna Bremke, who represents Walbom and is also a Firelands wrestling parent, said her client didn't know the bus fight had involved his son. She also said no vomit was found in the trash cans after 10 days, and that they had not been emptied during that time. Bremke also disputed that older, heavier wrestlers had been involved in taking down the eighth-grader, whom she said was a year older than most of his classmates. The punishment was meant purely to address disparaging remarks the child made against females, she said: "It's common for coaches of all caliber, of all sports, football, basketball — they all make kids do 'suicides.'" Bremke provided a letter from Guy Sako, a coach of 32 years, a National Hall of Fame inductee and a retired Cleveland police officer, whom she had planned to call as an expert witness. In his opinion, the boy was not harmed emotionally or physically by the ordeal and the drills were not excessive or out of the ordinary, he wrote. Sako said he found it "clever that Joshua was able to teach a young man a life lesson while using common wrestling drills. The fact that Joshua chose a seven-minute time frame, which is the length of a college wrestling match, shows to me that Joshua took the time to rationally decide his course of action and shows that he wasn't acting in haste." Bremke alleged the nonrenewal of Walbom's contract was a conspiracy, saying the eighth grader's father is friends with a Firelands Board of Education member. She said Von Gunten steered the investigation away from Walbom's favor from the beginning. She also tried to cast doubt on Northeim's role because he is a Firelands graduate employed as the district's resource officer. Von Gunten's April 15 letter to Walbom reiterates that the decision not to keep him on the coaching staff was made because he allegedly placed a student in danger of physical and emotional harm. Walbom's actions violated policies on student safety, health and welfare; maintaining appropriate social and emotional boundaries with students; bullying and hazing, Von Gunten said in a December document listing the full reasoning for his recommendation that the coach be terminated. The coach's decisions violated the OHSAA handbook, district athletic handbook, the Professional Licensure Code of Conduct and possibly Ohio Revised Code, he said. "There is no doubt that you have been an asset to the district and that you continue to be supported by many," he said in the April 15 letter. "However, this situation was unjustified in all respects and warrants the harsh consequences that have resulted." Contact Jason Hawk at (440) 329-7122 or news@lcnewspapers.com.