By Janice Gregorson
gregor@postbulletin.com
A 19-year-old Rochester man admitted Monday he was involved in hazing incidents at Century High School a year ago but said he never meant to hurt his victims.
"I knew it would cause pain," Patrick Jay McBride told Olmsted District Judge Robert Birnbaum while pleading guilty to two counts of misdemeanor fifth-degree assault. "But I did not intend to hurt them."
McBride admitted taking his victims to Essex Park in northwest Rochester last October, ordering them to bend over a picnic table and hitting them with a piece of wood.
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McBride was a senior at Century at the time and was one of 11 students charged with misdemeanor offenses in connection with a string of hazing incidents involving underclassmen at Century. Nine of the students were juveniles at the time. Under state law, the names of juveniles are confidential unless they are at least 16 and charged with felony-level crimes.
McBride and Aaron Vix were 18 at the time of the hazings and were charged in adult court with misdemeanor fifth-degree assault. Trials for both men were scheduled for later this fall.
McBride had the most charges. He was charged with four counts of fifth-degree assault and three counts of disorderly conduct, stemming from incidents on Oct. 4, 5 and 7 last year. Under terms of a plea agreement, he pleaded guilty to two fifth-degree assault charges and the rest were dismissed.
The complaints said McBride furnished the wooden paddle, which the victims were required to sign after being struck on the buttocks. It is the same paddle given to McBride after he was hazed three years ago, the complaints said.
McBride, who now is a student at Minnesota State, Mankato, told the judge that he now knows what he did was wrong and accepts responsibility for his actions.
"I didn't intend to hurt them," he said again, adding "It was a rite of passage. I am sorry."
The mother of the victims told the judge that the hazing caused physical and emotional damage to her son.
She said that he became depressed and lost 20 pounds within three weeks, that his grades dropped and that he was harassed at school. She said her son had bruises on his buttocks, back and side.
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Birnbaum ordered McBride to be on probation for one year and complete programming required by his probation officer. He also is to pay a $310 fine and write letters of apology to the victims.
The investigation into hazing incidents began early last October. The school district suspended three students. Police later identified 16 victims and 11 suspects.
A version of this story in appeared in some editions Monday.
