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US: Fellow students rape African-American boy with hanger, hurl racial slurs

Victim claimed that his team-mates would 'hump' him and simulate anal sex by jumping on him from behind.

Idaho: Three high school football players in Idaho, of Caucasian ethnicity, have been charged with sexual assault for allegedly raping an African American disabled team-mate with a coat hanger.

Aged 18, 17 and 16, the three teenagers forced the 18-year-old victim to the ground in the locker room, while one of them assaulted him and another kicked him several times.

The victim is the only African-American player on the school's football team, and has learning disabilities.

The 17-year-old, Tanner Ward, is being charged as an adult, while the 16-year-old is being tried as a juvenile. Both Howard and Ward could face lifetime imprisonment.

A lawsuit has been filed against the school, which states that the victim cried out loud and helplessly, but no one from the school staff bothered to check, leaving him 'to fend for himself in an extremely hostile environment'.

The victim was called a variety of racial slurs like 'n*****', 'chicken eater', 'Kool-Aid' and 'watermelon'. He was also allegedly forced to sing a Ku Klux Klan song called Notorious KKK, which Howard learned when he lived in Texas, as the other players displayed a Confederate flag, according to a report in The Washington Post.

Although the incident took place in October last year, the lawsuit claims that it was not the first time that the victim was being targeted. He claimed that his team-mates would 'hump' him and simulate anal sex by jumping on him from behind during football practice. In one instance, they stripped him naked on a bus and took photographs of him.

“The beating of the plaintiff was accompanied by catcalls, taunts and racial epithets of the football players/students in full view of the coaches who not only failed to prevent the abuse but actively promoted it,” the lawsuit states.

The victim's family only learned about the incident when his younger brother heard about it later that day and informed his parents.

“It was as brutal an attack as I have seen in my 40 years as a prosecutor,” the family's attorney, Keith Roark, said.

The family is claiming a compensation for USD $10 million for violation of civil rights, racial discrimination and negligence.

( Source : Deccan Chronicle. )
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