Posted on 04/13/2006 3:21:02 PM PDT by ghost of nixon
DURHAM, N.C. -- A woman who claims she was sexually assaulted by members of Duke University's lacrosse team was described as "just passed-out drunk" by one of the first police officers to see her, according to a recording of radio traffic released by Durham police on Thursday and obtained by The Associated Press.
The conversation between the officer and a police dispatcher took place about 1:30 a.m. March 14, about five minutes after a grocery store security guard called 911 to report a woman in the parking lot who would not get out of someone else's car.
The officer gave the dispatcher the police code for an intoxicated person and said the woman was unconscious. When asked whether she needed medical help, the officer said: "She's breathing and appears to be fine. She's not in distress. She's just passed-out drunk."
The black woman, a 27-year-old dancer and college student, told police she was sexually assaulted and beaten by three white men around midnight at an off-campus party thrown by Duke's lacrosse team. The racially charged allegations have led Duke to cancel the highly ranked team's season and accept the resignation of its coach.
No charges have been filed, but district attorney Mike Nifong has said he believes a crime was committed. Attorneys for the players have said DNA tests failed to connect any players to the alleged attack, and they have urged Nifong to drop his investigation.
The radio recordings, obtained by the AP through a records request, are the first instance in which police or anyone connected with the investigation has said the woman appeared to be intoxicated.
Defense lawyers, however, have said time-stamped photographs taken by the players show that the accuser was drunk and had already suffered some injuries when she arrived at the house for the party.
The recording is consistent with "what I have seen of the photo evidence before," attorney Kerry Sutton said. Those photos, she said, showed that she was "way beyond where you would put somebody behind the wheel of a car."
The description of the woman's medical exam -- which Nifong has said is his basis for believing a rape occurred -- does not mention her being drunk. It states only that the woman's injuries and behavior were consistent with having been raped, sexually assaulted and having suffered a traumatic experience.
The woman has told police she and another dancer hired to dance at the party arrived at 11:30 p.m. March 13. The pair reportedly left the house a short time later, fearing for their safety. The accuser told police the two were coaxed back into the house with an apology, at which point they were separated. That's when she said she was dragged into a bathroom and sexually assaulted, beaten and choked for a half-hour.
At 12:53 a.m., police received a 911 call from a woman complaining that she had been called racial slurs by white men gathered outside the home where the party took place.
The defense has said it believes the second dancer at the party made that call. The 911 call from the grocery store security guard was placed at 1:22 a.m.
In it, the caller says, "Um, the problem is ... it's a lady in somebody else's car and she will not get out of their car. She's like, she's like intoxicated, drunk or something. She's, I mean, she won't get out of the car, period."
A police spokeswoman did not immediately return a call seeking comment on the radio traffic.
The case has focused intense national scrutiny on Duke and the lacrosse players and has sparked protests on the elite private university's campus and elsewhere in Durham. The school last week canceled the highly ranked team's season and coach Mike Pressler resigned after the release of a vulgar and graphic e-mail sent by a team member shortly after the alleged assault.
Several of the defense attorneys say they expect the district attorney to ask a grand jury on Monday to issue charges in connection with allegations.
"Rest up on Sunday," Sutton said.
There has been no official word, however, on whether Nifong intends to present the allegations Monday. His next opportunity would come two weeks later.
That must be very taxing.
I don't think her dad picked her up. When the media first approached him a week or more after the alleged event, he knew nothing about it and said he'd seen his daughter that (next) day and she was fine, and had dropped her car off there and left. He didn't know his daughter was the woman the story was centered around, didn't know she'd been in the hospital, nothing. So somebody else picked her up, probably her BF, and then they brought her car to her father's house where she left her kids and her car. That was his first story, and since he seemed to be caught off guard, it appears to be the only truthful story he's told.
I was replying to GAgal who really originally came up the idea and that's the thread she was in. Thanks for noticing my post.
I'm thinking more and more that, because of her prior record, she's in danger of losing custody of her kids. One more arrest and social services comes for them. A rape charge was probably something that occured to her on the spur of the moment to get out of it and she made it not knowing the DA would jump right on it.
It was in one of the earier N&O stories.
I just joined FR today.
But what was the purpose of the first 911 call?
I think you're right; that why she didn't come up with an accusation until "subsequent interviews," as the police said.
Probably just to bust the chops of the partygoers. Kim was probably PO'd at some of the things that had been said to her.
You may have just nailed it. There's a story linked in one of Howlin's post to a gal (Ms. Bennett, I think?) who works for the NCCU newspaper, and she interviewed three different people who know Mangum and had nothing good to say about her. When Bennett went back to interview them again because her faculty supervisor for the paper said she should go with the stroy, two of the witnesses had clammed up and the remaining witness is a young girl/teen, I believe.
Is it possible there are nuisance and neglect reports about her and she was on the edge of losing her kids?
Try reading about this case before posting. NO DNA EVIDENCE WAS FOUND INDICATING A RAPE BY THESE COLLEGE MEN. NONE, NADA, ZILCH, ZERO.
This apparently is an attempt by a lowlife to get money from well to do WHITE men.
I was wondering the same. If it was Kim she sure didn't want to be connected to this mess. Maybe her family is unaware of her occupation. I really don't understand a 911 call for racial slurs..
I read that same one and I hadn't put that into the puzzle but you're probably right.
I'll have to go back to look at the news reports, but his story as I recall was that he DID know she was in the hospital (in fact I think one of the stories had him going to the hospital in the early morning hours and then going back home, perhaps without even seeing her), but that he DID NOT know she was supposedly a rape victim until later. I agree that the impression I got from the reports is that the BF probably drove her home from the hospital, and may have been there the whole 5 hrs.
On Rita tonight somebody emailed in that "I am a Duke student..." if you believe that -- but they said that what happened was the boys were disappointed because they were black and an argument insued.
But how do you account for the photos of them dancing?
It's got to be about the money -- and not having $$$ to pay the services and the middleman.
Are the kids not living with her father? Is there any real danger social services would take the kids away to a group/foster home if the grandfather was in the picture and considered to be a responsible person? Unless the father or fathers of the kids were actively trying to get custody of the kids?
I suspect the words; "Hey, Nifong, table 5 needs coffee", will be in his future.
bttt
bttt
*Snicker*
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.