Idaho Teen Football Players Took Bullying To A Horrific Level


Trigger Warning: Sexual Assault

Three teenage football players in Idaho viciously attacked a disabled teammate in the locker room. The disabled boy thought at first that he was being given a hug, but then was raped with a clothes hanger. One teammate held the boy down, another put a clothes hanger in his rectum, and the third kicked the coat hanger.

The incident happened on October 3, 2015, in the tiny town of Dietrich, Idaho. The state Attorney General’s office filed sexual assault charges on all three boys involved. Two of them are going to be tried as adults, and they could get life sentences in prison.

Idaho law declares that forcible penetration with any foreign object is a sex crime and a felony. This includes penetration of all orifices with any foreign object.

The parents of the victim have filed a $10 million lawsuit against Dietrich High School.  The suit says that this was not a one-off incident; the black, disabled boy had been bullied a lot by his white teammates. They called him things like “chicken eater” and the N-word.

John R.K. Howard, 18, and Tanner Ward, 17, are the ones facing a life sentence. The third, unnamed, 16-year-old attacker is being tried as a juvenile.

A witness said that Howard initiated the attack, and Ward kicked the object several times while it was in the victim’s rectum. The victim had to go to the hospital for his injuries.

The 18-year-old victim (unnamed because he is the victim of sexual assault) said:

“I screamed. I was pretty upset. I felt really bad. A little betrayed and confused at the same time. It was terrible — a pain I’ve never felt.”

The lawsuit named eleven more people who supposedly witnessed the attack, but they did nothing about it.

This is a disgusting crime, and these teens need to be punished for it.
 


 


This video is a very good anti-bullying PSA:

Featured image screengrab via KMVT11 news video.

Hi, I'm from Huntsville, AL. I'm a Liberal living in the Bible Belt, which can be quite challenging at times. I'm passionate about many issues including mental health, women's rights, gay rights, and many others. Check out my blog weneedtotalkaboutmentalhealth.com