John R.K. Howard (Courtesy of Tarrant County, Texas)
White high school football players in Idaho charged with raping black, disabled teammate with a coat hanger
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, Idaho. 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.
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.”
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.
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.
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.
That was nothing compared to what would come after practice, however.
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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. “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 September 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.
But I digress. fukk that cac and his family and everybody associated with this incident besides the victim and his family. How p*ssy do you have to be to bully and haze a fukking disabled person?
Lock that cac piece of shyt up forever in prison. Let him get fukked in the ass and see how he likes it