High School Football Players Tackled a Referee says They're Just Doing What They're Told
SCIUTTO: Tonight, two high school football players caught on camera violently tackling a referee during a game are now speaking out. They say their coach told them to do it. Why? Because they claimed the ref used ethnic and racial slurs against them. The ref denies the allegations. Jean Casarez is OUTFRONT.</s>JEAN CASAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It was a brutal act caught on camera. Two San Antonio high school football players who each blind-sided a referee are now speaking out for the first time saying they intentionally did it. Victor Rojas and Michael Moreno say their assistant coach told them to attack the ref for making bad calls and for allegedly using racial slurs.</s>VICTOR ROJAS, TACKLED A REFEREE: He told one of my Hispanic friends, he told him, speak English, this is America. He told him that. And then --</s>GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS, ABC HOST: Did you hear that or did one of your friends tell you that?</s>ROJAS: No, I heard him. And then to the African-American in our team, he told him the "N" word.</s>STEPHANOPOULOS: And you heard him?</s>ROJAS: Yes, sir.</s>STEPHANOPOULOS: And you heard him say the "n" word? Did you?</s>MICHAEL MORENO, TACKLED A REFEREE: Yes. I heard him when he had called him, Moses, a friend of us, you know, the "N" word and it was just really --</s>STEPHANOPOULOS: He says that's a lie.</s>MORENO: That's not. It's the honest truth right there.</s>CASAREZ: Allen Goldberg, the attorney for referee Robert Watts disputes these allegations.</s>ALAN GOLDBERGER, ROBERT WATTS' ATTORNEY: Mr. Watts denies using any inappropriate remarks. The allegations of the students are taking on a character as if it was somehow, some kind of excuse.</s>CASAREZ: Video from the September 6th game shows Rojas charging at referee Robert Watts, hitting him from behind and knocking him to the ground. Seconds later, Moreno pounces on top of him, diving into him, spearing him with his helmet. Moreno says, John Jay High School assistant coach Mack Breed spoke to him directly before the attack.</s>MORENO: While on the side line, he pulled me and another player over and he told us, and I quote, "You need to hit him."</s>CASAREZ: Rojas says he got his orders from another fellow team mate.</s>ROJAS: A player came over and told me the coach said, "Do it."</s>STEPHANOPOULOS: The coach told you to do it?</s>ROJAS: Yes sir.</s>CASAREZ: Coach Breed who is currently on paid administrative leave could not be reached for comment. The players are now suspended for their entire season and say they know their actions were wrong.</s>ROJAS: I would apologize for things that I made.</s>MORENO: Everyone sees me as this thug, you know, or gangster. You know, I did this because I'm a bad guy. Like, that's not who I am. Like underneath the helmet and the pads, you know, I'm really a great kid.</s>CASAREZ: So the Marble Falls Police Department continues its investigation into all aspects of this. The Northside Independent School District in San Antonio says it is cooperating in every way. At this point, the students are on disciplinary leave. There is a hearing that they are awaiting the results on from an internal investigation so they are going to the alternative school.</s>CASAREZ: Once the investigation is finished, it is the district attorney that will determine if criminal charges are filed. And, Jim, the school district tells me they have no idea that these students were flying to New York today, a school day, for the interview.</s>SCIUTTO: Jean Casarez in New York. Paul Callan, he's CNN legal analyst. So the players claim the coach told them to do it. Does that change their responsibility at all?</s>PAUL CALLAN, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Well, legally, it doesn't. I mean, if the coach told them to shoot somebody and they did, they would be guilty of a crime. However, in the context of a football game, my son, who played high school football and tells me that if the coach tells you to do something, and you're a high school kid, you do it. It's a quasi- military organization in terms of the way it's run and anybody who has played high school football knows, you do what the coach tells you.</s>SCIUTTO: Clear chain of command there?</s>CALLAN: Well, I think they've got a good defense here. Maybe technically what they did was wrong, but if the coach said that, it's the coach who is guilty, not the kids.</s>SCIUTTO: How about the allegation that the referee used racial slurs and ethnic slurs. Does that take away culpability at all?</s>CALLAN: Well, I think it does in the sense that in any disciplinary hearing, that's going to be taken into consideration if in fact it was said and it would reduce the punishment. But remember, the ref is adamantly denying racial slurs. And the other thing we haven't heard is how severe are his injuries? These are the things the district attorney will be looking at. And, boy, he's in a tough spot. If this guy is seriously injured, is he going to charge these local high school football players with an assault or the coach?</s>SCIUTTO: Yes.</s>CALLAN: Tough decision by the prosecutor.</s>SCIUTTO: And a lawsuit as well, I imagine, down the road.</s>CALLAN: That's right.</s>SCIUTTO: Paul Callan, thanks very much as always. OUTFRONT next, Carly Fiorina just moments away from taking the stage in Greenville, South Carolina. Her first appearance since Wednesday's debate. We're going to bring you that live.