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

Kenneth Marcy kmmos1 at frontier.com
Wed May 25 13:22:37 PDT 2016


This story appeared in the Washington Post feed just a moment ago.

The story was written by Michael E. Miller, a foreign affairs reporter,

which may indicate something about how that paper views Idaho.

Here's a link: *http://tinyurl.com/jbo2le8*



*Ken*


On 5/25/2016 12:36 PM, Janesta wrote:
> *tears*
>
>
>
> On Wed, May 25, 2016 at 12:15 PM, Tom Hansen <thansen at moscow.com 
> <mailto: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
>     <http://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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>               mailto:Vision2020 at moscow.com <mailto:Vision2020 at moscow.com>
>     =======================================================
>
>
>
>
> =======================================================
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