There have been several new developments in the playground rape of a woman by a group of teenagers. According to media and law enforcement, the unidentified victim was drinking alcohol in a Brooklyn playground with her father late one night. It was then that a group of five Black teens confronted the pair, pulled a gun and told the father to run. The father fled and went to a local store to try to call the police but was refused by the clerk. It took 20 minutes for the father to flag down a police car and get back to the playground. By then the 18-year-old female had been gang raped.
The suspects later either turned themselves in or where picked up by police this week and further details are emerging that put the initial story in doubt. According to several of the suspects, they found the father was having sex with his daughter in the playground and they never pulled a gun.
The teens have been identified as Denzel Murray, 14, Shaquell Cooper and Ethan Phillip, both 15, Onandi Brown, 17, and Travis Beckford, 17. Spencer Leeds, a lawyer for one of the teens, has stated that both the girl and her father failed to pick out the suspects in a police line-up. The five teens have been charged with rape, criminal sex act, sexual abuse and other charges and maintain their innocence.
The teens claim that when they saw the father and daughter having sex, they asked, “Can we have some of that?” and the woman allegedly consented to sex. One of the teens even claims to have cellphone video of the event where the alleged victim is laughing and joking with her assailants. On the video, one of the teens is heard to state, “You said, ‘Yeah.’ That’s what I’m saying, it’s lit [OK], like you know what I mean? I could tell you a freak.’’
The case has become controversial because of the inconsistencies in the stories of the woman and her father. All the teens are being held on bond that range from $25-50K. The investigation is ongoing.
