Posted on 03/28/2006 10:21:27 PM PST by Howlin
(03/28/06 -- DURHAM) - Duke University's highly ranked men's lacrosse team won't play again this season until school administrators learn more about allegations that several team members raped an exotic dancer at an off-campus party, the school said Tuesday.
University president Richard Brodhead had decided to suspend the team from play "until there is a clearer resolution of the legal situation involving team members."
The suspension raises the possibility the Blue Devils will miss the rest of their games. Duke has four games left on its regular-season schedule, followed by next month's Atlantic Coast Conference tournament in Baltimore and a likely bid to the NCAA tournament. Last year, Duke lost to Johns Hopkins in the school's first appearance in the national title game.
No one has been charged in the case, which has roiled the campus, raised racial tensions and heightened antagonism between the affluent students at Duke, which costs about $43,000 a year, and the city of Durham, which has a large population of poor people and is about evenly divided between white and black. Armed with a judge's order, police took DNA samples with a cheek swab from 46 of the lacrosse team's 47 players last week. The 47th player, the only black member of the team, did not have to provide DNA because the dancer said her attackers were white.
"I needed to have the information about who will be charged," said District Attorney Mike Nifong said Tuesday. "I feel pretty confident that a rape occurred."
Brodhead said the team's captains notified Duke athletic director Joe Alleva on Tuesday the team wanted to stay off the field until results of DNA testing came back from the state crime lab. Brodhead said it was his decision to expand the suspension.
"In this painful period of uncertainty, it is clear to me, as it was to the players, that it would be inappropriate to resume the normal schedule of play," Brodhead said. "Sports have their time and place, but when an issue of this gravity is in question, it is not the time to be playing games."
An hour before the rape was reported, 911 operators received calls from another woman who was walking by the party.
"It's right in front of 610 Buchanan [Blvd.] , and I saw them all come out like a big frat house, and me and black girlfriend are walking by, and they called us n-----s," the caller said.
An hour later, a 27-year-old dancer reports being strangled, kicked, beaten and raped by three members of Duke's lacrosse team. Traumatized and full of fear, she retreated to a nearby grocery store and refused to get out of the car until an officer arrived.
"The problem is, it's a lady in somebody else's car and she will not get out of the car," the 911 caller said. "The owner of the car is right here and she says she can explain what happened."
The documents say some players threatened to assault the victims sexually with a broom as they performed. Court documents also say team members tried to create an "atmosphere of confusion" by giving fake names to hire the strippers.
Investigators say they are encountering a stonewall of silence against a mounting pile of evidence.
"Based on what I know about the crime, is that it is highly unlikely that the people at that crime scene who where not directly involved in the crime did not know that something untoward was going on," said Durham District Attorney Mike Nifong.
Two weeks into the investigation, Nifong says he has received little cooperation from Duke lacrosse team members.
Durham CrimeStoppers is making a new plea for help in the investigation. Officials sent out an e-mail Tuesday afternoon, saying in part:
"Although we have received many calls expressing concerns and anger about this incident, we have not received any calls which would allow us to assist in resolving this case&We are extending our plea for information and help to our Duke family, who are also part of our community."The police department's plea is the latest in a PR battle between investigators and Duke University officials. It comes one day after Duke President Richard Brodhead said the team had been cooperative.
"My information is that they have been cooperating all along with the investigation," he told Eyewitness News.
DNA samples from the lacrosse players did not come voluntarily. District Attorney Nifong said Tuesday that Duke is not hampering the investigation.
Meanwhile, the Durham chapter of the NAACP is asking for a private meeting with Duke officials.
She went straight to the press.
According to the investigators, while not every member of the lacrosse team was at the party, everyone who was at the party was on the lacrosse team.
I would usually defend my alma mater from the "University of New Jersey at Durham" claim, but indeed over half the team is from New Jersey, New York, or Connecticut. The rest of the roster is from Maryland (8), Virginia (4), Delaware (1), Canada (1), Pennsylvania (2), Illinois (1), North Carolina (1), and Texas (2). Many of the kids appear to have come from private schools.
I'm not sure what they want the school to do; they canceled the next two games, and then the season.
The Duke president said that, contrary to rumors, they have all been cooperating from the very beginning.
But within hours, demonstrations started in front of the house and at the school, with all the usual suspects present.
For me, I can't help but remember that back in the late 70's, the Communist Workers Party had their "headquarters" in Durham and that ALL the CWP members involved in the Klan Shoot Out in Greensboro were from Durham.
And it bothers me that she is giving interviews -- and so is her family.
Somethign happened, that's for sure, but the team is adamant that they are innocent of the charges.
We shall see by next week, but in the meantime, we're going to be treated to the usual rantings and ravings of any group who hopes to jump on the train. NAACP is already heard from, of course.
Yes.
And there is one black member of the team, but he didn't give DNA because she said the attackers were white.
Yes the stripper (actually there were two strippers, one was allegedly raped, the other was in the house but what she was doing during the alleged attack. The accusers and neighbors claim to have heard some of the partygoers use racial slurs towards the strippers, in fact the investigators have released 911 calls from one neighbor who reported the loud noise and racial slurs prior to the rape being reported. 46 of the 47 players on the lacrosse team are white, and the accusers claims the attackers were white. Only lacrosse players were at the party.
Fishy huh?
Who would have thought being a stripper was dangerous work???
There's no excuse if this is true, but I'll hold off on judgement to avoid the Tawana/Sharpton factor...
Apparently the medical evidence is indicating that their evidence of her being raped vaginally and anally. In addition, the players appear to be indicating that they did not have sexual contact with her at all. The DNA test appears to be pivotal: if there is DNA from the players despite their claims that the tests would exonerate them, it would be very difficult to believe anything else they said. If the DNA doesn't match, serious doubt will be cast of the accuser's account; it's hard to imagine her account being true without DNA being passed from the attackers.
I agree; if true, it's shocking and they should have the full slam of the law.
I just find it hard to believe that out of 47 players, nobody is talking; they have to know that the DA -- who has decided to try the case himself (interesting, huh?) will go after them full force if they don't come forward.
Face it, if it's true, their lives are over; why aren't the parents MAKING their sons talk to the police about what really happened to save themselves?
That's what the DA is saying; we shall see.
The article makes it luminously clear that the media desperately wants to turn this into a "hate crime." If and when the DNA tests show that the LAX player(s) raped this woman, the full fury of the NAACP, Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, et al will descend upon Durham faster than you can say Blue Devil. The real story here (again, if true) is privileged athletes thinking they are above the law. Then again, that's not really news...
At schools like Duke (and here at Georgetown), LAX is a big deal...much more so than football. I would venture to say that at Duke, Lacrosse is the second most important (and well-funded) sport...behind only basketball.
no kidding
I think it's also worth noting 3 have been accused..46 Lax players can't fit in a bathroom.And if one of these boys were my son, I'd have him clam up too--the media rushes to judgment faster than you can say Blue Devil--The whole situation is incredibly horrible for the 43 guys who may or may not have even been there.
Oh, they're already there, with more coming, no doubt.
If I am not mistaken, Sharpton even has an "office" in Durham.
Would you have your son clam up if he was innocent?
Some seem to think that the team has erected a "blue wall of silence" in an effort to protect the rapists among them. I don't buy that. These guys have everything on the line...not the least of which is their scholarships. If any of the innocent players knew that one or more of their teammates did this, I have to believe that they would turn the criminals in. The fact that this hasn't happened leads me to believe that the rape charge may be false. No one can make any judgements until the DNA results are released.
Seems to me authorities should keep any details quiet..why should anyone provide fodder for tabloid news? Even if my son was innocent I'd lawyer up so quick..this is going to get so ugly--even for the innocent. They had to give DNA even if they weren't at the party..how much more cooperative do they have to get?
Lacrosse is a pretty tough sport. It's pretty similar to hockey and involves about as much contact between the players. It was originally played by American Indians, who basically used it as a substitute for actually going to war between tribes.
Lacrosse is pretty popular in certain pockets around the country, such as upstate New York, the Mid-Atlantic, and certain parts of the South.
Lacrosse is huge here in New Jersey. It used to be a prep school only sport but has grown in leaps and bounds. This is such a black eye for a great sport--especially for a premier College program such as Duke's.
Everything smells about this story but it is a lesson on how we should teach our young, conduct rules at a college, why liberals aren't good for our colleges, and why our parents rules were correct.
Well -- and this is just my opinion -- the silence from the INNOCENT people involved speaks volumes about their parents' values.
If my son was one of the 44 students not accused, I'd be in Durham making sure he cooperated rather than hiding behind a group lawyer.
BTW, there is one lawyer for most of them, and another lawyer for about 3 of them. Odd, huh?
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