Manager: Police took case seriously
Michael Biesecker, Staff Writer
DURHAM - Duke University administrators appear to have based their response to rape accusations against lacrosse players on a cell phone conversation overheard on a hospital loading dock.
An internal report filed by a Duke police officer March 14, shortly after a woman told emergency room workers she was raped, says the accuser initially said she was attacked by 20 men before changing it to three men.
It also indicates that city police were skeptical that a serious crime had occurred, though it does not say which Durham officer made that assessment.
City Manager Patrick Baker said Tuesday that the Duke police report is based on what a campus police officer overheard a low-ranking Durham officer say on a cell phone early that morning outside Duke Hospital. The criminal investigation has been handled by Durham police.
"Their officer did not speak to our officer," Baker said. "He appears to have overheard half a conversation, and he didn't follow up."
Duke released the March 14 campus police report Tuesday. That came a day after a study found that Duke administrators were slow to act because their initial internal police report indicated Durham officers had said only misdemeanor charges were likely.
Baker, who spoke with police officials Tuesday about the chain of events, bristled at the implication that city officers did not believe the accuser. He said that the incident was classified as a sexual assault about 30 minutes after the woman arrived at the hospital and that investigators were quickly put on the case.
"Any assertion that the Durham Police Department didn't take this case seriously or indicated that it would blow over is completely contradicted by the facts and our actions," Baker said.
Baker said he has never received any indication that the woman said she was raped by 20 men or that she changed her story.
"I have no idea where that came from," Baker said. "I've had a lot of conversations with the investigators in this case and with officials at Duke, and at no time did anyone indicate the accuser changed her story. If that were true, I'm sure someone would have mentioned it to me."
Meanwhile, defense lawyers for the two lacrosse players arrested last month on rape and kidnapping charges said the Duke police report will help their case.
"The prosecuting witness has given a number of versions of what happened," said Wade Smith, an attorney for accused player Collin Finnerty. "It seems to me that this is an important moment in the case."
District Attorney Mike Nifong has declined to discuss the Duke report.
The one-page form says the woman, an escort-service dancer hired to perform at a team party that began March 13, was taken to the emergency room about 3 a.m. the next day by Durham police. It is the policy of The News & Observer not to disclose the names of those who report they were sexually assaulted.
Two Duke University men's lacrosse players charged with raping an exotic dancer at an off-campus party will appear in court May 18, according to a court schedule.
The hearing is scheduled to start at 2:30 p.m., according to a schedule of Durham County cases.
A grand jury last month indicted sophomores Reade Seligmann, of Essex Fells, N.J., and Collin Finnerty, of Garden City, N.Y., on charges of rape, kidnapping and sexual assault. They were released on $400,000 bond and a judge set the next hearing for the week of May 15.
The charges stem from allegations that a woman was sexually assaulted at an off-campus team party on March 13 where she had been hired to dance.
Why on EARTH did they not check this out BEFORE they published this report?
Yah.. right.. that's why they waited until 3/16 to issue and exercise the search warrant of 610...