A Colorado district high school cheerleading coach and his assistant have been placed on leave as after a video emerged showing them conducting a brutal splits drill involving a team of female students. The school’s principal and an assistant principal were also placed on leave over the incident.

Denver police are investigating after a series of videos showing a squad of East High School cheerleaders screaming in agony as coaches and fellow students push them into painful splits moves during a school practice. The videos were reportedly sent anonymously to authorities.

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The school’s principal and an assistant principal, the cheer coach and his assistant and a district lawyer have all been placed on leave during the investigation.

KUSA-TV reports the videos show eight cheerleaders at Denver’s East High School repeatedly being pushed into splits while their arms are held up by teammates. In one video, a girl repeatedly asks her coach to “please stop.” The station says the videos were shot on the phones of two team members and were sent anonymously to the station. source

Denver Public Schools superintendent Tom Boasberg called the videos “extremely distressing.”

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