Three Dietrich (Id.) High football players have been charged with the sexual assault of a disabled teammate stemming from an event last fall in the school locker room.
The three teens, all white, allegedly sexually assaulted a black disabled student with a coat hanger last October, according to authorities. The details of the event are grisly, involving a coat hangar being inserted into the victim’s rectum, but there are also claims that the assault was a culmination of months of racist abuse.
According to the victim’s testimony last month, one of the alleged attackers asked him for a hug, which was apparently a signal for the attack to begin.
“I screamed,” the victim testified, according to the Magic Valley Times-News. “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.”
Two of the three boys are being charged as adults, and could face life in prison. A third boy is being charged as a juvenile.
Further, a civil complaint was filed this month against Dietrich High in the U.S. District Court of Idaho, and a copy of the lawsuit was provided to the Washington Post by the alleged victim’s lawyer. The suit names the school and 11 school employees. The suit contends football coaches encouraged students to fight the boy, at one time knocking him unconscious.
The suit also alleges that one of the alleged assailants displayed a Confederate flag and made the victim recent a racist song called “Notorious KKK.”
The alleged victim’s family is seeking $10 million in damages. The school district did not respond to a request for comment from The Post.
Trials for the two students are set to begin later this year.
Read a full, detailed account of the lawsuit at the Washington Post