[Vision2020] Idaho football players raped black, disabled teammate, suit claims

[Janesta]

*tears*



On Wed, May 25, 2016 at 12:15 PM, Tom Hansen <thansen at moscow.com> wrote:

> Courtesy of today's (May 25, 2016) *Idaho Statesman* at:
>
> http://www.idahostatesman.com/news/state/idaho/article79765702.html
>
> ----------------------------------
> Idaho football players raped black, disabled teammate, suit claims
>
> When a teammate held out his arms after football practice in their high
> school locker-room, the boy thought he was about to get a hug.  Instead, he
> got viciously raped, authorities say.
>
> As the teammate restrained the boy, another football player allegedly
> thrust a coat hanger into the boy’s rectum. Then a third teammate kicked
> the coat hanger several times, according to a criminal complaint.
>
> The Oct. 23, 2015, incident has rocked the tiny town of Dietrich. This
> spring, after several months of investigation, the state Attorney General’s
> office filed sexual assault charges against all three alleged attackers.
> Two of the teenagers are being charged as adults and could face life in
> prison, under Idaho law.
>
> Earlier this month, the case took an even darker turn when the boy’s
> family filed a $10 million lawsuit against Dietrich High School.
> Suit alleges months of abuse
>
> According to the lawsuit, the alleged rape wasn’t a one-off but rather the
> culmination of months of racist abuse by white students against the boy,
> who is black.
>
> The boy “was taunted and called racist names by other members of the team
> which names included ‘Kool-Aid’ ‘chicken eater’ ‘watermelon’ and [the
> N-word],” the suit alleges.
>
> The civil complaint filed in the U.S. District Court in Idaho also claims
> that one of the students charged with sexual assault displayed a
> Confederate flag and demanded the boy recite a racist song titled
> “Notorious KKK.”
>
> All three of the boy’s attackers were white, the suit says.
>
> The suit, which names the 18-year-old boy, was provided to The Washington
> Post by his attorney. However, The Post generally does not name victims of
> sexual assault.
>
> In addition to Dietrich High School, the lawsuit also names 11 employees
> as defendants. It claims school administrators and coaches did nothing to
> stop the racial and physical abuse towards the boy, who was especially
> vulnerable due to “mental disorders including learning disabilities.”
> ‘Catcalls, taunts and racial epithets’
>
> The suit even claims that Dietrich football coaches encouraged other
> players to fight the boy, allowing a much larger student to knock the boy
> unconscious as other students shouted “catcalls, taunts and racial
> epithets.”
>
> Dietrich High School did not respond to a request for comment.
>
> Against the alleged backdrop of widespread racial abuse at Dietrich, one
> individual stands out: John R.K. Howard.
>
> Howard, 18, is one of the three students accused of sexually assaulting
> the boy with the coat hanger. He is charged as an adult with one count of
> forcible penetration by use of force or a foreign object, according to the
> criminal complaint.
>
> The lawsuit paints Howard as the ringleader of the racist abuse against
> the boy, who was adopted at age four by white parents living in the
> predominantly white town of 334 people.
>
> When a teammate held out his arms after football practice in their high
> school locker-room, the boy thought he was about to get a hug.  Instead, he
> got viciously raped, authorities say.
>
> As the teammate restrained the boy, another football player allegedly
> thrust a coat hanger into the boy’s rectum. Then a third teammate kicked
> the coat hanger several times, according to a criminal complaint.
>
> The Oct. 23, 2015, incident has rocked the tiny town of Dietrich. This
> spring, after several months of investigation, the state Attorney General’s
> office filed sexual assault charges against all three alleged attackers.
> Two of the teenagers are being charged as adults and could face life in
> prison, under Idaho law.
>
> Earlier this month, the case took an even darker turn when the boy’s
> family filed a $10 million lawsuit against Dietrich High School.
> Suit alleges months of abuse
>
> According to the lawsuit, the alleged rape wasn’t a one-off but rather the
> culmination of months of racist abuse by white students against the boy,
> who is black.
>
> The boy “was taunted and called racist names by other members of the team
> which names included ‘Kool-Aid’ ‘chicken eater’ ‘watermelon’ and [the
> N-word],” the suit alleges.
>
> The civil complaint filed in the U.S. District Court in Idaho also claims
> that one of the students charged with sexual assault displayed a
> Confederate flag and demanded the boy recite a racist song titled
> “Notorious KKK.”
>
> All three of the boy’s attackers were white, the suit says.
>
> The suit, which names the 18-year-old boy, was provided to The Washington
> Post by his attorney. However, The Post generally does not name victims of
> sexual assault.
>
> In addition to Dietrich High School, the lawsuit also names 11 employees
> as defendants. It claims school administrators and coaches did nothing to
> stop the racial and physical abuse towards the boy, who was especially
> vulnerable due to “mental disorders including learning disabilities.”
> ‘Catcalls, taunts and racial epithets’
>
> The suit even claims that Dietrich football coaches encouraged other
> players to fight the boy, allowing a much larger student to knock the boy
> unconscious as other students shouted “catcalls, taunts and racial
> epithets.”
>
> Dietrich High School did not respond to a request for comment.
>
> Against the alleged backdrop of widespread racial abuse at Dietrich, one
> individual stands out: John R.K. Howard.
>
> Howard, 18, is one of the three students accused of sexually assaulting
> the boy with the coat hanger. He is charged as an adult with one count of
> forcible penetration by use of force or a foreign object, according to the
> criminal complaint.
>
> The lawsuit paints Howard as the ringleader of the racist abuse against
> the boy, who was adopted at age four by white parents living in the
> predominantly white town of 334 people.
>
> “Mr. Howard is a large and aggressive male who had been sent to live with
> his relatives in Idaho due to his inability to keep out of trouble in
> Texas,” the complaint says. “Mr. Howard is a relative of prominent
> individuals in the community and, at least in part due to his athletic
> ability and community connections, the Defendants ignored or were
> deliberately indifferent to the behavior of Mr. Howard which included
> aggression, taunting and bullying of The Plaintiff and other students in
> the District. With deliberate indifference, the Defendants did nothing to
> curb the vicious acts of Mr. Howard who brought with him from Texas a
> culture of racial hatred towards the Plaintiff.”
>
> The boy, one of the few black students at Dietrich and the only African
> American on his football team, was subjected to frequent abuse by Howard
> and his fellow teammates, including “aggressive ‘humping’, jumping on him
> from the back and simulating anal sex,” according to the suit. His fellow
> football players allegedly gave him painful wedgies, stripped him of his
> clothes and took naked photos of him in the locker room. One student drew a
> picture of the boy sitting in the back of the bus on a classroom chalkboard.
> Portrait of an alleged ringleader
>
> It was Howard, however, who was allegedly behind the worst abuse.
>
> It was Howard who allegedly forced the boy to recite the words to
> “Notorious KKK,” a bitterly racist and violent rap song set to the tune of
> Notorious B.I.G.’s “Can’t You See,” the suit alleges.
>
> It was Howard who, with his bare fists, allegedly knocked out the boy, who
> was made to wear boxing gloves, as teammates and coaches formed a circle
> around them.
>
> And it was Howard who allegedly kicked the coat hanger five or six times,
> causing the boy “rectal injuries” that required hospital treatment, the
> lawsuit claims.
>
> Another player, 17-year-old wide receiver Tanner Ward, has also been
> charged as an adult with forcible penetration, according to local news
> website MagicValley.com <http://magicvalley.com/>. According to the
> lawsuit, Ward, “physically forced a coat hanger into the Plaintiff’s
> rectum” before Howard kicked it.
>
> Facebook photos show Ward participating in cowboy competitions. A
> quick-footed wide receiver, he has his own web page on hudl.com devoted
> to highlights of his football prowess.
>
> A lawyer representing Ward did not return requests for comment.
>
> A third football player, age 16, has been charged as a juvenile. His name
> has not been released.
>
> Last month, during a preliminary hearing in the case against Ward, the boy
> testified how he had been tricked with kindness moments before the cruel
> attack.
> ‘A pain I’ve never felt’
>
> The boy said Howard and Ward started harassing him before practice on Oct.
> 22, giving him a “power wedgie” so violent it tore his boxers.
>
> After practice, when the third teammate asked the boy for a hug, the boy
> agreed, only for the teammate to restrain him and signal for the others to
> attack, the boy said.
>
> “I screamed,” he testified, according to MagicValley.com
> <http://magicvalley.com>. “I was pretty upset. I felt really bad. A
> little bit betrayed and confused at the same time. It was terrible — a pain
> I’ve never felt.”
>
> Ward’s attorney argued that the boy’s testimony conflicted with that of
> another witness, but Judge Mark Ingram allowed the case to continue. Ward’s
> trial is scheduled to begin on Sept. 26. The Lincoln County Clerk’s Office
> could not say Tuesday whether he had filed a plea.
>
> Howard, who is finishing high school in Texas, has a preliminary hearing
> set for June 10 and has not yet entered a plea.
> Read more here:
> http://www.idahostatesman.com/news/state/idaho/article79765702.html#storylink=cpy
> Read more here:
> http://www.idahostatesman.com/news/state/idaho/article79765702.html#storylink=cpy
>
> Read more here:
> http://www.idahostatesman.com/news/state/idaho/article79765702.html#storylink=
> ----------------------------------
>
> Seeya 'round town, Moscow, because . . .
>
> "Moscow Cares" (the most fun you can have with your pants on)
> http://www.MoscowCares.com <http://www.moscowcares.com/>
>
> Tom Hansen
> Moscow, Idaho
>
>
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