For the second time within a week, a game of “Senior Assassin” among Northwest Indiana high school students went off the rails.
Chesterton Police responded at 10 p.m. Wednesday to the Tamarack subdivision on the town’s south side to a report of “an individual lying in the roadway with a possible head injury.”
It was quickly determined that the 18-year-old male student, while playing “Senior Assassin,” had fallen from a moving vehicle at Laurel Creek Drive and Catkin Circle.
The student was taken for medical treatment and remains under a doctor’s care, Chesterton Police said.
As a result of the fellow student’s injury, a Chesterton High School senior who was an organizer of the game has stopped the competition, police said. Duneland Schools had no comment on the incident.
On the afternoon of April 10, more than a dozen police officers responded to a report of a man holding a gun outside the Planet Fitness in Portage.
Adrian Williams, 18, a Portage High School, was charged with intimidation, a Level 6 felony in connection with the incident.
Williams, playing the “Senior Assassin” game, had been spotted by an alarmed passerby holding what appeared to be a handgun while he lurked outside the fitness facility. Portage police reacted like it was a potential “active shooter” situation, only to find that Williams was holding a water pistol, court records show.
Senior Assassin is an informal, tag-style game, organized by high school seniors near the year’s end. Participants attempt to eliminate one another using water guns or other harmless devices.
The danger with the game is that it “can lead to an unsafe situation, particularly when participants engage in vehicle-related pursuits, trespass onto private property, or are mistaken by others as engaging in criminal behavior,” a Chesterton police statement said.
While acknowledging that “Senior Assassin” has become a tradition for high school seniors, Portage Police have had to respond to reports of reckless driving, road rage and carjacking associated with the game, Portage Police Captain Rob Maynard has said.
Chesterton Police are conducting a thorough investigation of their case.
Chesterton Police Chief Tim Richardson said detectives will do interviews with all the known witnesses.
The resulting investigation will be sent to Porter County Prosecutor Gary Germann’s office for review to determine if the incident was accidental or if there was any form of criminal element regarding the recklessness laws, Richardson said.
The Chesterton Police statement urged students and parents to recognize that while the “Senior Assassin” game is not intended to be dangerous, it can quickly become hazardous and result in serious injury. “Families are encouraged to have conversations with their children about making safe and responsible decisions.”
Jim Woods is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.
