WASHINGTON COUNTY, Ore. — A Westview High School student told KGW that his head football coach slapped and shook him and several of his teammates awake at a training camp this week.
"It was like one in the morning," said SeKoa Kurkowski Afoa, a rising senior on the team. "I had barely been asleep for almost an hour, and I wake up to just a palm in my face. It woke me up instantly."
Early Tuesday morning, while at a multi-day overnight football camp at Linfield University campus, McMinnville police officers did a welfare check at the campus. Police officers said initial information pointed to Jamal Jones, the head coach of the Westview team, allegedly waking up students by slapping and shaking them while they were sleeping.
"The rest of them were either yelled at, or just trying to make sense of what was happening," Kurkowski Afoa said. "He was putting his hands on people. He open palm slapped people."
He said in total, the players estimate about 30 of them were slapped or shaken awake.
The alleged behavior cut the camp short.
"It was supposed to run for a maximum four days. We were supposed to leave that afternoon, but we all left at five in the morning instead," Kurkowski Afoa said.
He told KGW that the other coaches stepped in to make sure the team was doing OK.
"These coaches are great people, especially the ones that were there for us," he said. "They want to do what's best for us."
Jones resigned on Wednesday, a day after the Beaverton School District said he had been put on administrative leave, pending an investigation.
"Our goal is to work to ensure our players and their families feel safe returning to the Westview football program and for our student athletes to be able to look forward to a successful season," Principal Matt Pederson said in a letter to families. He added the school is looking for an interim head coach for the time being.
Jones is also a police officer with the Hillsboro Police Department. Hillsboro police said it is aware of the allegations against one of its officers, who was "not acting in the capacity of (a) Hillsboro employee" at the time. The department said he's on leave, pending the investigation of the incident.
Jones has not been charged with any crimes. McMinnville police said it is actively investigating to determine if there are any criminal offenses.