Two Fenger coaches removed after teens attack boy over flip-flops
BY ROSALIND ROSSI AND CLYDE TRAVIS Staff Reporters October 4, 2011 2:10PM
Darion Jones, a 16 year old Fenger High School student leaves his South Side home, Tuesday, October 4, 2011. | John H. White~Sun-Times.
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Updated: November 16, 2011 8:32AM
Relatives of a Fenger High School junior accused two Fenger coaches Tuesday of doing nothing while a mob of football players pounced on the junior to avenge the purported theft of a pair of flip-flops.
The attack erupted after one coach stopped by Fenger student Darion Jones’ Roseland home Saturday morning to question him about a Fenger football player who was allegedly jumped and robbed of his Nike flip-flops, Darion’s relatives said.
When Darion said he knew nothing of the incident, the teen’s relatives said, the coach warned him: “I guess you’ll know something when the next 50 people arrive.”
Within minutes, at least two carloads of football players pulled up, relatives said.
By that time, both Fenger lead football coach Cassius Chambers and Fenger assistant varsity football coach Roscoe Pitts were on the scene, but they did nothing to stop the mob from attacking Darion and Darion’s nephew, David Baker, 15, relatives said.
“I screamed and hollered, ‘Don’t do this.’’’ said Darion’s mother, Patricia Thurmond-Jones. “I said, ....‘I’ll buy you some shoes. Don’t do this.’’’
During the melee, a cosmetic contact lens that covered Darion’s prosthetic right eye was broken, and Darion lost a tooth, said his sister, Cathy Baker. Baker’s son, David, was hit in the head, his mother said.
Darion was treated in a hospital emergency room and released.
However, Chambers’ father, Chuck Chambers, a longtime Chicago Vocational High football coach, defended his son Tuesday, saying Cassius Chambers went to Darion’s home to defuse the situation.
Chuck Chambers said the football team was mad at Darion because they suspected him and two of his friends of jumping a fellow player, stealing his shoes and taking his MP3 player as the team member headed to Saturday practice.
The team found out about the incident after the player showed up barefoot at practice, and they headed over to Darion’s’ house to “get the stuff back,’’ the elder Chambers said.
The two coaches went to Darion’s house to “stop the altercation’’ and got there “in time to tell the football players to get out of there,’’ Chuck Chambers said.
“As a coach, Cassius tried to prevent what could have been a volatile situation. It is a sad state of affairs when the culprits are being made to look like they are the victims,’’ Chuck Chambers said.
Cassius Chambers, who also worked as a teaching assistant at Foster Park Elementary, and Pitts, who also served as a Fenger security officer, have been removed from their jobs with pay pending an investigation, CPS officials say.
The two coaches totally mishandled the situation by coming over to a student’s house on a weekend with a pile of kids, Cathy Baker said.
“If there was something that happened, the police should have been notified. There’s no way two [Chicago Public School] staff members should have brought [two] carloads of young men to jump on one person,’’ Baker said. “They just stood there and watched.’’
A neighbor who said he saw the tail end of the melee agreed.
“The coaches seen the fight,’’ said Erik Johnston, 22. “I didn’t see them hold anybody back ... [The football players] jumped in there like dogs, animals, some pit bulls. ... You couldn’t miss it.’’
Another Fenger student, Derrion Albert, was beaten to death in a 2009 mob attack while walking home from school. The attack was captured on a cell phone video, which drew international attention.
Darion Jones’ mother said she thought of that other Derrion when one of the departing attackers warned, “It’s not over.’’
Said Thurmond-Jones: “When I called police, I told the police to get someone over here so we don’t have another Derrion Albert situation. I’m telling you — the intensity of that tone of `it’s not over’ — you have to believe it.’’
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