Family of Student Beaten in Woburn Locker Room Sues School and City Officials

The parents of a football player who was attacked by a group of teammates in a Woburn Memorial High School locker room in 2021 have filed a federal lawsuit against city and school officials. The suit, filed Thursday in US District Court in Boston, alleges that officials allowed a toxic culture in the football program that encouraged bullying and violence.

Jeanny and Kevin Coucelos say their son, Johnathan, was a 14-year-old freshman at the time of the attack. According to their complaint, Woburn authorities compounded the harm, including severe emotional distress, by failing to respond adequately. Their attorney, Peter Hahn of the OneLaw firm in Newton, said the filing is "the next step in seeking justice" for what he called a series of outrageous attacks on an innocent young man. Woburn school and city officials did not respond to requests for comment.

Five football players were charged in Lowell Juvenile Court over the locker room ambush. One of them also faces a count of indecent assault and battery for allegedly groping Johnathan Coucelos. Two other students were charged as juveniles with assaulting him at school after the locker room incident. Several of the students have been sentenced to community service, while the charges against the player facing the indecent assault count remain pending. That student has been allowed to keep playing, and the team was due to open its season at home against Longmeadow on Friday.

The defendants include head football coach Jack Belcher, athletic director Jim Duran, former principal Jessica Callanan, former volunteer assistant coach Chase Andrews, Superintendent Matthew Crowley, the Woburn School Committee and Mayor Scott Galvin. Callanan has since left for Reading Memorial High School, and Andrews is also gone. The Coucelos family alleges Andrews failed to respond properly when Johnathan reported the beating to him. Belcher and Duran remain in their jobs and have said they were not present during the attack.

A federally mandated Title IX review by an independent investigator found that "the team assault was planned, organized, and executed by a substantial number of sophomore players." One player said he punched Coucelos several times after the sophomores, "like 30 kids," decided to beat him up. The review also cited statements from Andrews and head freshman coach Chris Scichilone that neither had formal hazing training before the attack. The lawsuit claims coaches did not receive proper bullying and hazing training until afterward.

The complaint also says no member of Belcher's staff was supervising the team during the attack and that no coach intervened, though a coach's office sits directly across the hall. It points to two earlier episodes in Belcher's program, which he has led since 2017. In one, from 2018, Belcher allegedly saw an older player kick a younger one in the head so hard that the younger player became ill, yet took no action. In the other, a player who graduated in 2021 said he was bullied and beaten by older teammates as a freshman. "Coach Belcher had encouraged stronger players to toughen up the weaker ones," the suit alleges.

Woburn officials commissioned a separate investigation by Daniel Bennett, a former state secretary of public safety, but have declined to release his final report. Last year Crowley issued a statement saying it concluded that the district generally had proper policies in place and responded in a timely way, developing appropriate safety plans for the student. Belcher has not publicly addressed the incident.

Hahn said the city has made no effort to settle since the family notified it of their intent to sue 19 months ago. The family is seeking $750,000, or more if the evidence at trial warrants. They say the attack upended Johnathan's life: he has left the Woburn school, and the complaint states he has been diagnosed with depression, anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder.

Johnathan Coucelos, speaking through his father, said he wants everyone involved held liable "for what they did and for trying to cover it all up." Kevin Coucelos said the coaches "should have been long gone" and accused administrators of "dragging their feet, putting other kids at risk of getting bullied."