Warning: the details of this story are extremely graphic.
Three Idaho high school football players are charged with brutally raping a mentally disabled teammate with a coat hanger. The teens are accused of harassing the victim for months leading up to the attack.
According to a criminal complaint, the teens lured the victim, who is a special needs student, into the Dietrich High School locker room by offering a hug. Instead, the teens are accused of cramming a coat hanger inside of the boy’s rectum by kicking it numerous times. The crime took place on October 23, 2015 and is being considered racially motivated. There is a witness to the attack.
John R.K. Howard (pictured above), 18 and Tanner Ward, 17 are both being tried as adults in the case and could face life in prison, according to Idaho law. A 16-year-old charged in connection with the attack is being charged as a juvenile. Howard has not entered a plea however, he has a preliminary hearing set for June 10. Ward’s trial begins in Septemeber.
The victim’s family filed a $10 million lawsuit against the school, naming 11 employees. The rape is said to have stemmed from months of racism by the students who are white and taunted the boy who is black. The boy “was taunted and called racist names by other members of the team which names included ‘Kool-Aid’ ‘chickeneater’ ‘watermelon’ and [the N-word],” the suit alleges. There are reports that one of the students charged showed a Confederate flag, demanding the boy recite a racist song titled “Notorious KKK”, a parody to a Notrious B.I.G. tune.
According to reports, nude photos of the boy had been taken against his will in the locker room along with wedgies given by his fellow teammates in addition to other humiliating and degrading acts. The victim had to be treated for injuries sustained in the attack.
