In all, Georgetown police interviewed more than 30 witnesses, the vast majority with Georgetown ties, and none reported hearing anyone associated with Georgetown utter a racial slur, the documents indicate. No one from the Roxbury Prep side was interviewed.
The jointly commissioned investigation, led by Giselle Joffre, a former assistant US attorney, is expected to provide a more comprehensive and balanced account because Joffre’s team received access to the Roxbury Prep community.
“Roxbury Prep coaches, players and families fully cooperated with the independent investigator,” the school’s spokeswoman Barbara Martinez said. “It was clear by all accounts that Roxbury Prep players, coaches, and family members complained throughout the game about racial epithets loudly voiced against them with no actions taken by those who were in a position to stop these insults. Throughout this process, the Roxbury Prep community has aided all parties in the investigation in order to ensure justice is served. We look forward to seeing the independent investigator’s report.”
Georgetown Police Chief Donald Cudmore declined to comment before the independent investigator’s report is released, except to say, “I stand by the content of each officer’s report.”
At least seven officers participated in the case. Cudmore said Joffre’s team received copies of the police reports.
Georgetown School Superintendent Carol Jacobs said Joffre, a partner at Foley Hoag, has shared her findings with attorneys for both schools “but a final report has not been written.”
The inquiry has proven costly. To date, Foley Hoag’s invoices have exceeded $150,000, and the schools have committed to paying $75,000 each, the original agreement on their purchase order, Jacobs said.
Each school faces additional bills of more than $21,000, and, as the cost continues to rise, the schools’ attorneys are negotiating with Foley Hoag over further payments, Jacobs said.
In addition, Georgetown has paid its outside counsel more than $21,000 for the football investigation, while Roxbury Prep has paid its outside attorney about $30,000.
The total cost for each school is expected to exceed $100,000.
One Georgetown witness who attended the game told police she had organized a Black Lives Matter gathering in the predominantly white North Shore community three months earlier. She said she “would have addressed it right away” had she heard a racial slur at the game, a police report states.
It did not go unnoticed before the game that Roxbury Prep’s players, nearly all Black or Hispanic, kneeled during the national anthem, while Georgetown’s stood and raised their helmets. Georgetown athletic director Ryan Browner told the police he “believes that may have been a contributing factor to the situation.”
The contest quickly proved lopsided, and as Georgetown surged to a 30-0 first-half lead, Roxbury Prep coaches shouted angrily at the game officials, suggesting they were racially discriminating against them, witnesses said.
Manny Gasca, a school police resource officer in Lynn whose son played for Georgetown, was working on the sidelines “within earshot” of the Roxbury coaches, according to his written statement. Gasca, who identifies as Mexican American, said he has more than 20 years of police experience and knows “what a hate incident is.”
“The only hate I observed was from these two Roxbury coaches,” Gasca wrote. “One of the coaches clearly expressed his distrust in white referees from the start. In my opinion, this misconduct created the unfortunate incident.”
At halftime, the referee told police, Roxbury Prep head coach Willie McGinnis “approached me regarding his team being called the n-word.”
The referee asked the other game officials if they had heard any racial slurs. “All said they didn’t,” he wrote in a game report.
Read More: Georgetown police find no racial slurs at Roxbury Prep game; independent report