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Police: Duke accuser 'passed-out drunk'
Associated Press ^ | 4/13/2006 | AP

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.


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Extended News; News/Current Events; US: North Carolina
KEYWORDS: duke; dukelax; falserape; getwhitey; lacrosse; lyingwitch; rape; skunkalert
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To: ghost of nixon

More on this circus...

81 posted on 04/13/2006 4:10:40 PM PDT by Fintan (Somebody has to post stupid & inane comments. May as well be me...)
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To: Ernest_at_the_Beach
"They show extensive bruises and scrapes on her legs, especially around the knees, he said."

She was so drunk that she lost her kneepads at the party she was at before she showed up to the LAX party.

I'd like to see the time line of what this "dancer" was doing during the day before she showed up at the house at 11:30 PM.
82 posted on 04/13/2006 4:10:41 PM PDT by Ninian Dryhope ("Bush lied, people dyed. Their fingers." The inestimable Mark Steyn)
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To: hinckley buzzard

I wasn't sure what he meant by that either. Very physical sport.


83 posted on 04/13/2006 4:10:48 PM PDT by cdga5for4
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To: ghost of nixon

LOL, more embarrassing news about the Durham Dirtbag.


84 posted on 04/13/2006 4:10:50 PM PDT by jpl
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To: SauronOfMordor
>would give a good probability to her having traded "favors" for drugs, gotten into a fight with the dealer

More probably her pim...er, agent did that to her.

85 posted on 04/13/2006 4:12:30 PM PDT by bill1952 ("All that we do is done with an eye towards something else.")
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To: ghost of nixon

Paging Nancy Grace!


86 posted on 04/13/2006 4:13:50 PM PDT by PJ-Comix ((Join the DUmmie FUnnies PING List for the FUNNIEST Blog on the Web)
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To: Bloody Sam Roberts
Exactly. Which is why if this goes to trial, any testimony by this officer about the plaintiff's state of intoxication will likely be inadmissable. I know I'd move to have it excluded if I were the prosecutor.

The officer could still give a description of what he saw -- e.g., how she moved, glassy eyes, slurred speech, odor of alcohol, etc. -- without testifying to the conclusion of intoxication.

87 posted on 04/13/2006 4:14:03 PM PDT by FoxInSocks
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To: pollyannaish
We have some interesting facts here.

1) The complainant was photographed as she entered the alleged crime scene and the photos show pre-existing scraps and bruises. She was dishevelled. 2) If she was intoxicated, it may be that she remembers being raped but it could have been at a previous location, and she was being deposited with the Dule party as she became more conscious. 3) If this goes to trial, the complaonant will have to take the stand, and she will be cross examined on where she was when she recieved the pre-existing scrapes and bruises. She will also have to explain her disheveled appearance and disorientation as she entered the Duke party. 4) Upon seeing her disheveled appearance and injuries, the Duke crowd likely insulted her and the two left, only to be invited back. 5) There is conflicting evidence on what happened at the Duke party on the dancers re-entry. If she was raped at the Duke house, it may be the second occasion she had been assaulted that night. It is also possible that she might have been so intoxicated upon arriving at the Duke party, that she had previously fallen down and scraped herself up. This is a tough case for the prosecution: a) They have no DNA evidence from an identified suspect b) they have prexisting injuries of the complainant caused by a fall or a pre-existing assault c) They have a possible pre-existing intoxication of the complainant, which was not established one way or the other at the hospital? d) they have to put the complainant on the stand and subject her to cross examination on a), b) ,and c) above If they have no new evidence and if the trial is a jury trial, there is a good possibility that any accused will be found not guilty. There is also a possibility that the case will be thrown out at the preliminary hearing. Positive identification of the perpetrator(s) may be impossible in this case.

The defense can make a good case for the fact that she had been raped prior to arriving at the Duke party, and that her memory was confused because she had been "a priori" traumatized and intoxicated.

If I was prosecuting this case, without any new evidence, I would have to allow the investigation to continue before bringing the case forward to a grand jury.

88 posted on 04/13/2006 4:14:21 PM PDT by Candor7 (Into Liberal Flatulence Goes the Hope of the West)
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To: Shermy
"He could have said "she looks like she's in shock" and been just as correct."

Nope. He is a cop and he has seen drunk and he has seen "in shock" and he knows the difference and the "dancer" was passed out drunk, not in shock. The security guard concurs.
89 posted on 04/13/2006 4:14:37 PM PDT by Ninian Dryhope ("Bush lied, people dyed. Their fingers." The inestimable Mark Steyn)
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To: Ninian Dryhope

I realize that and should edit. My first read had the officer looking at her through a closed car window, only.


90 posted on 04/13/2006 4:17:14 PM PDT by Shermy
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To: cdga5for4
Perhaps he thinks Jim Brown, All-American lacrosse player for Syracuse before he went to the NFL, was just a soccer-kid.

I never played but I knew college hockey goalies who respectfully declined to get in the crease on a lacrosse field.

91 posted on 04/13/2006 4:17:45 PM PDT by hinckley buzzard
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To: ghost of nixon

Don't be successful and send your white boys to Duke I guess.


92 posted on 04/13/2006 4:19:05 PM PDT by edcoil (Reality doesn't say much - doesn't need too)
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To: hinckley buzzard

Yeah, hockey goalies wear pads. Lacrosse goalies wear a helmet, neck protector, light shoulder pads, a chest protector, and a cup. Nothing on their legs at all when guys shoot 80-100 MPH screamers at them with a hard rubber ball.


93 posted on 04/13/2006 4:20:21 PM PDT by cdga5for4
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To: calex59
"Since when is being drunk or on drugs a pass for being raped?"

Being drunk and high tends to make one's recollection of events somewhat hazy. Need I remind you that no DNA was found of any of the LAX players? The only one saying that there was a rape is a person of suspect character.
94 posted on 04/13/2006 4:20:31 PM PDT by Ninian Dryhope ("Bush lied, people dyed. Their fingers." The inestimable Mark Steyn)
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To: Pharmboy
"The key here--it seems to me--is where she was prior to to showing up at the LAX house."

Yep. And what the stripper who called 911 has to say about the entire evening.
95 posted on 04/13/2006 4:24:23 PM PDT by Ninian Dryhope ("Bush lied, people dyed. Their fingers." The inestimable Mark Steyn)
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To: connectthedots
CAUSE TEQUILA MAKES HER CLOTHES FALL OFF

You do know that you've made my day!

96 posted on 04/13/2006 4:25:23 PM PDT by Neverforget01 (Proud enemy of the drive-by-media)
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To: winner3000
Those LAX players are getting a good education now, even better than the usual Duke education.
97 posted on 04/13/2006 4:25:52 PM PDT by Ninian Dryhope ("Bush lied, people dyed. Their fingers." The inestimable Mark Steyn)
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To: calex59
"Since when is being drunk or on drugs a pass for being raped?"

If she was really raped, there should be no pass. However, in this case they have found that there is NO SIGN of any DNA -- no semen, no skin cells, no hair, no perspiration, no blood, no evidence of skin under her fingernails, NADA! So what are the odds that 3 differnet men raped her and left no evidence? Simple -- it didn't happen.

98 posted on 04/13/2006 4:26:45 PM PDT by TommyDale
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To: bill1952
soccer is supposed to be, as well.

Think of lacrosse as ice hockey but make the following substitutions

1) Hard rubber ball 2.5" in diameter instead of puck
2) Field for rink
3) Stick with a net on the end rather than a stick with a blade
4) You can carry the ball with the net on the stick
5) When you have the ball the defenseman can whack the hell out of you with his stick

The rest is about the same - body checks, etc. and just a helmet, small shoulderpads and heavy gloves. Goalies get a cup. A good H.S. player can shoot the ball at about 80-90 mph and God help you when that ball hits.

With respect to soccer players who are also great athletes, there is absolutely no comparision in violence.

99 posted on 04/13/2006 4:27:11 PM PDT by Locomotive Breath (In the shuffling madness)
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To: infidel29
dancer was accosted by Jack Daniels, Jim Beam and Johnnie Walker

you guys should have a show on comedy central

100 posted on 04/13/2006 4:28:53 PM PDT by Neverforget01 (Proud enemy of the drive-by-media)
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