Three Fayette County High School

senior football players have been arrested for tying up a teammate who

was assaulted last week in the team's locker room.

One of the three, Jason Watford,

18, is accused of striking the victim a 16-year-old sophomore with a weightlifting

belt and dragging the victim along the carpeted floor, said Lt. Beverly

Trainor of the Fayetteville Police Department. The other two players charged

in the incident, Matthew Hosington, 18, and Jeb Thaxton, 17, helped a

witness stop the assault, Trainor said.

Watford is charged with simple

battery and reckless conduct while Hosington and Thaxton are charged with

being a party to the crime of reckless conduct. The three suspects "tackled"

the victim to subdue him before binding his hands and feet with athletic

tape, Trainor said.

Although all three suspects

were "out of school" Monday, according to school spokesperson

Melinda Berry-Dreisbach, she could not confirm details, citing federal

education privacy laws.

Police believe the motive for

the attack was retribution, since the victim allegedly had something to

do with the suspects having to run extra laps as a disciplinary measure,

Trainor added.

The victim suffered abrasion

burns on his back and shoulders, Trainor said.

According to the school system's

student code of conduct, the penalty for committing a violent act can

range from a short-term suspension from school to recommendation that

the case be heard by a disciplinary tribunal which could consider a long-term

suspension or expulsion from school, Berry-Dreisbach said.

School officials are continuing

to look into the matter, Berry-Dreisbach added.

"We want the community

to know we have followed the procedures in the student code of conduct

and we will continue to do so," Berry-Dreisbach said.

The incident occurred while

several players were cleaning out their lockers last Monday around noon,

Trainor said. No adult was present at the time of the incident, she added.

The matter came to light after

rumors began to circulate and school administrators requested assistance

from the department, Trainor said.

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