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Teen sues in locker room rape, alleges lengthy racist abuse

Three teens and the victim played football together at Dietrich High School, where the alleged sexual assault took place on October 23 in the locker room after practice.

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The attack followed months of racist abuse directed at the victim from his white teammates, according to a lawsuit the boy’s parents filed against the school.

According to the lawsuit, the Black teenager faced racism from teammates before the incident, but coaches and school officials never attempted to stop the racial abuse.

The three teens, all white, allegedly sexually assaulted a black disabled student with a coat hanger previous year, according to authorities. However, 17-year-old Tanner Ward is accused of forcibly penetrating the victim with the hanger, while 18-year-old John R.K. Howard allegedly repeatedly kicked the hanger into the victim’s rectum, causing physical harm. Ward and Howard will be tried as adults, while the 16-year-old faces juvenile charges, the newspaper said.

The alleged rape occurred after months of racial abuse against the alleged victim, who also was taunted by other members of the team, according to the lawsuit, facing racial slurs including “Kool-Aid, chicken eater, watermelon, and [the N-word]”.

The lawsuit, seen by Courthouse News, claims the teenager cried out for help, but no member of school staff bothered to check what was happening, leaving him “to fend for himself in an extremely hostile environment”.

The lawsuit argues that Howard in particular targeted the victim, who, according to the suit, suffers from “mental disorders, including learning disabilities”, and that the school not only failed to thwart the but encouraged it.

He also claims in the lawsuit that teammates would “hump” him and simulate anal sex by jumping on him from behind during football practice.

On another occasion, the Plaintiff says he was stripped of his clothes on a school bus riding home from a football game; the suit alleges other students took pictures. The lawsuit depicts Howard as the main perpetrator of the intimidation and assault. The victim said he and his mother reported the attack to Hardcastle the day after it happened.

Howard reportedly moved to Idaho from Texas after disciplinary problems. An administrative assistant for the school district’s office told BuzzFeed News by phone, “at this time the district will not comment on student matters that are in record or litigation”.

Mr. Howard is a relative of prominent individuals in the community and, at least in part due to his athletic ability and community connections, the Defendants ignored or were deliberately indifferent to the behavior of Mr. Howard which included aggression, taunting and bullying of The Plaintiff and other students in the District. Howard has not yet filed a plea in the case and it isn’t yet known whether Ward has filed a plea, the Post says. “With deliberate indifference, the Defendants did nothing to curb the vicious acts of Mr. Howard who brought with him from Texas a culture of racial hatred towards the Plaintiff”. The coaches also allowed other White teens to fight and taunt the Black teen.

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“I screamed”, the victim testified. Ward’s hearing is set to start on September 26.

John R.K. Howard   		Tarrant County Texas via the Washington Post