‘I was scared’: Parent wants ex-Westview football coach who allegedly slapped son to see justice
PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — After an ex-football coach of Westview High School allegedly slapped several students, one of the parents hopes for justice.
Jamal Jones, the ex-coach who is also a Hillsboro police officer, surrendered to authorities on Wednesday and faces 12 counts of harassment. He’s being accused of slapping and shaking multiple student players at an overnight football camp in McMinnville.
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One of those football players, SeKoa Kurkowski Afoa, told KOIN 6 News he went from being asleep to suddenly scared in the early morning of June 25. He also shared a disturbing video of the incident with KOIN 6 News.
“I was scared for not only myself but for my teammates. And I was also scared for like what he was going to do next,” SeKoa said.
At the multi-day football camp at McMinnville’s Linfield University, SeKoa alleges that the coach was shaking and slapping several football players to wake them up.
“I remember getting woken by him when he slapped me in the face,” SeKoa said. “You see like laughter, hear him say, ‘it’s Coach Jones, it’s Coach Jones.”
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The student-athletes were so stunned that they thought it was a joke, at first.
“I was like thinking it was a prank. He kept moving on down the line. He kept getting more and more aggressive. And eventually, some of those laughter was turned into like awkward silence,” SeKoa said.
McMinnville police were called and officers began investigating the coach about possible physical harassment. SeKoa said the slapping wasn’t the worst of it.
“He put his knee on an upcoming freshman, was still an eighth grader,” SeKoa said. “And he was grabbing another one from the classroom as he was trying to push them off and his friends.”
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Coach Jones resigned from his head coach position at Westview High School amid the investigation. He was also immediately placed on administrative leave at his job as an officer with the Hillsboro Police Department. Though he did turn himself in and was taken into custody, he was later released but still faces those 12 harassment charges.
“I want him to pay for what he did,” said SeKoa’s mother, Tiare Kurkowski Afoa. “I want him to be let go of his job. I want him to not be able to coach anymore. And I want him to have jail time.”
Jones is scheduled to appear in court later this month.
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