Soccer Players Accused Of Taping Autistic Teammate To Goal Post

A pair of high school soccer players in the Pittsburgh area are accused of duct taping their 16-year-old autistic teammate to a goal post on Sunday then leaving him there by himself. The boy's mother told WPXI her son was found crying for help.

Babinsack said a woman heard her son Austin's cries for help and then saw him duct taped to the goal post. The woman called police.

"He was bawling. He was terrified," said Kristie Babinsack.

The boy, Austin Babinsack, told KDKA that the teens also tried to take a picture of him, but he told them no, then they walked away to get another student. Austin thinks he was taped up for about 15 minutes before he was found. Austin always had been proud to be on the team, his mom told WPXI.

"There's a sweat suit they all have with their name and numbers. He wears that to bed. He wears it every weekend," said Austin Babinsack's mom, Kristie Babinsack.

Austin still went to his team's soccer game the very next day—where teammates called him a snitch.

Police are investigating. The school district has suspended the team's coach and two players, KDKA reported, and Austin planned to go back to school today. And yet somehow all this still feels like yet another reminder that the teenage brain is a horrible thing.

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