White HS football players in Idaho charged with raping black, disabled teammate

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When a teammate held out his arms after football practice in their high school locker-room, the boy thought he was about to get a hug. Instead, he got viciously raped, authorities say. As the teammate restrained the boy, another football player allegedly thrust a coat hanger into the boy’s rectum. Then a third teammate kicked the coat hanger several times, according to a criminal complaint.

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Two of the teenagers are being charged as adults and could face life in prison

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Earlier this month, the case took an even darker turn when the boy’s family filed a $10 million lawsuit against Dietrich High School.

According to the lawsuit, the alleged rape wasn’t a one-off but rather the culmination of months of racist abuse by white students against the boy, who is black.

The boy “was taunted and called racist names by other members of the team which names included ‘Kool-Aid’ ‘chicken eater’ ‘watermelon’ and [the N-word],” the suit alleges.

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Against the alleged backdrop of widespread racial abuse at Dietrich, one individual stands out: John R.K. Howard.

Howard, 18, is one of the three students accused of sexually assaulting the boy with the coat hanger. He is charged as an adult with one count of forcible penetration by use of force or a foreign object, according to the criminal complaint.

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It was Howard who, with his bare fists, allegedly knocked out the boy, who was made to wear boxing gloves, as teammates and coaches formed a circle around them.

And it was Howard who allegedly kicked the coat hanger five or six times, causing the boy “rectal injuries” that required hospital treatment, the lawsuit claims.

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