Police investigating incidents at Firelands football party in August

The Vermilion Police Department is investigating allegations that a party for Firelands Falcon football players at a private residence on North Ridge Road in August went too far, resulting in physical assaults and racist abuse. Allegations by a girl who attended the party that are making the rounds on social media say that she, her brother and a Black football player were physically assaulted by Firelands football players at a party on Aug. 13 where there was underage drinking and racist abuse. Christine Wojciechowski said her daughter Ella Wojciechowski, the teen who posted a public letter on Facebook alleging assaults and racial slurs by players at the party, has "zero reason" to lie about what happened that night. "She knew she was going to make a lot of enemies, but she's standing up for what's right," Christine Wojciechowski said of the party where her son, Colin Wojciechowski, allegedly was assaulted by partygoers and injured. The party took place Aug. 13 at the North Ridge Road home of Heath Tester, a retired Lorain County sheriff's lieutenant, and his wife, Charlotte. Heath Tester confirmed that his home was the scene of the party that night but denied the allegations by the Wojciechowskis as "100 percent a lie." Police and school officials talked to the players, including the alleged victim, and their version differed from the version given by the Wojciechowski family, he said. The Wojciechowskis are "injecting themselves way past what they need to be doing," he said. The incident Vermilion Police Chief Chris Hartung said his officers were called out to the initial incident, and that he has since conducted interviews with those present. He is preparing a report to be forwarded to prosecutors. According to police reports obtained by The Chronicle-Telegram, four Vermilion officers went to the house after an underage party and "some sort of assault" were reported. According to their reports, the house was dark with no party in progress but there were young people in the basement. Officers spoke with Charlotte Tester and she let them in, according to the police report. The report says the boys then came up from the basement and spoke with officers. In an interview with one officer, one of the boys said 19-year-old Colin Wojciechowski showed up to the party uninvited, "became aggressive and physical with other minors," and hit two of them before the fight was broken up and he was escorted out. The interviews were caught on body-worn police cameras, according to the report. The Chronicle-Telegram requested that footage from Vermilion police. Another partygoer told an officer those present were "fooling around and had put on boxing gloves" and were fighting. He told police no one was hurt or knocked out while boxing. Colin Wojciechowski had come to pick up his sister and her boyfriend, but returned apparently after learning football players were using racial slurs, upsetting a Black player at the party. A partygoer told Officer Benjamin Sargent that "the friend allows them to use the slur, which was not used to degrade them." Colin Wojciechowski began to argue with another player before punching him in the face, saying "You'll eat grass," according to the police report. The two were separated, Colin Wojciechowski was forced back to his car and he left. The person he punched had left the party by the time police arrived. Colin Wojciechowski, his girlfriend, Ella Wojciechowski, her boyfriend and Christine Wojciechowski went to the police station to give their own statements. Colin Wojciechowski said he was jumped by multiple players, kicked and punched before he was able to escape. The alleged victim told police that "he did not take offense" to his friends calling him the N-word "as he knew they were joking," but that Ella Wojciechowski told them to stop before she called her brother for a ride. Officer Brian Beckwith reported "several beer cans and small shot-size bottles of Fireball whiskey near the pool" in the backyard, but wrote in his report that none of the partygoers appeared intoxicated. He counseled them on underage drinking laws before leaving. Allegations Ella Wojciechowski saw the whole thing differently. In her letter on Facebook, she said she was shocked alcohol was being served, especially after she found out the owner was a former police officer. "Right off the bat I could tell the nature of these kids and didn't feel I was safe or welcomed," Ella Wojciechowski wrote. Ella Wojciechowski said the alleged victim was the only Black person present and was targeted with racial slurs. When he objected, an adult named Chris put the alleged victim in a chokehold and threw him to the ground. Chris then forced the boy to call him "master" or "massa," according to Ella Wojciechowski. "The rest of the kids proceeded to say the N-word and taunt him," according to Ella Wojciechowski. "I watched every single person at that party say the N-word" — except for three people, she wrote. Ella and Christine Wojciechowski also posted a five-second video clip on Facebook they said captured the incident. The video is too dark to identify anyone on it — Christine Wojciechowski said her daughter held the phone down so no one would know she was recording — but at least five racial slurs can be heard. People at the party also pressured the Black youth — "so drunk he couldn't walk," according to Ella Wojciechowski — into boxing another youth at the party who was not intoxicated, brought boxing gloves and forced the Black youth to put on a pair of his own. The Black youth was "pummeled to the ground" and knocked out without throwing a single punch, according to Ella Wojciechowski. According to Ella Wojciechowski, after he woke up she sat with him the rest of the night. She wrote that he was upset with how the other players treated him. Ella Wojciechowski called her brother, Colin Wojciechowski, to come pick them up. The alleged victim refused a ride "because he didn't want to go home intoxicated," she wrote. When Colin Wojciechowski arrived, the alleged victim had been hidden from them, and those at the party began saying and yelling racial slurs, Ella Wojciechowski wrote. "Out here, it doesn't matter if you're Black or white, we all say it," was what the siblings were told, according to Ella Wojciechowski's letter. Ella Wojciechowski was confronted by a man named Chris who screamed in her face, according to her letter. When Colin Wojciechowski stepped between them, he was punched, tackled and assaulted by five or six other players, then "aggressively escorted" to his car. Ella Wojciechowski was punched in the back until another Firelands player wrestled her attacker off her, she and her mother said. She was not injured but her brother suffered a fractured cheekbone, bloody nose and other injuries, his mother said. Christine Wojciechowski said she took her son to the emergency room the following day, and that he is recovering. Ella Wojciechowski said when she went to get help from Charlotte Tester, she was told she was trespassing and threatened with criminal charges. Charlotte Tester also allegedly threatened to call her husband, and denied that the boys at the party used racial slurs or assaulted anyone. "These specific players have continued playing unbothered, without so much as a lecture or a mention from their coaches or superiors," Ella Wojciechowski wrote in her letter. "This is the leadership Firelands High School and athletics portray." Homeowner responds Heath Tester was working and not at home the night of the incident, but on Thursday he called the Wojciechowskis' versions of events "100 percent a lie." Christine Wojciechowski's version of events has changed several times over the past two months, he said. Heath Tester also denied there was underage drinking going on at his house, and questioned when the audio of the racial slurs was taken. He said testing of the phone's metadata would be able to tell for certain. Heath Tester said he plans to pursue criminal trespassing and assault charges on Colin Wojciechowski, who "took matters into his own hands when he should have contacted his parents instead of doing what he did." Heath Tester said Colin Wojciechowski came to his house twice that night and the second time picked a fight with the football players. He also questioned if Colin Wojciechowski's injuries were as serious as his mother claims. Firelands and Vermilion "have an ongoing rivalry" in football, Heath Tester said, "and guess who the next game was with?" "Who knows. I don't know what it was," Heath Tester replied when a reporter asked if he was suggesting the Wojciechowskis made up the story because of a high school football rivalry. He also questioned if The Chronicle was writing a story "off one person with this cancel culture on Facebook." Heath Tester said the "trained boxer" Ella Wojciechowski mentioned is "best friends with the alleged victim." "The school talked to (the alleged victim), police talked to him multiple times. He's not a victim," Heath Tester said. "This is two kids who completely overreacted, took matters into their own hands, and escalated something way beyond something they should have done." Christine Wojciechowski said racism is "pervasive" at Firelands. "For that reason alone, I will not give up the fight. I want everyone to be accountable and I want the school to act on this," she said. Firelands Board of Education President Mike O'Keefe said Thursday that the board was only just recently informed of the allegations in the letter, but the matter is in the hands of Vermilion police. "In the meantime, we have some great teachers, great administrators and great staff at Firelands, and they try their hardest and best to provide a safe and inclusive environment in all of our schools," he said. "We just want to make sure everybody knows we take every allegation seriously, but at the same time we can't comment if there's an investigation going on." Contact Dave O'Brien at (440) 329-7129 or dobrien@chroniclet.com. Follow him on Twitter @DaveOBrienCT.