Investigators claim accuser was drugged (Signifying Nothing: how does saying nothing at all become so loud?)

Saturday, 15 April 2006

Investigators claim accuser was drugged

An unnamed source close to the investigation of a reported rape near the Duke University campus has told NBC 17 News that someone might have drugged the accuser the night she claims three lacrosse members raped her.

“She may have been slipped a date-rape drug in a mixed drink she was given by one of the lacrosse players shortly after she arrived,” the source told NBC 17 late Friday.

“Her condition is said to have changed dramatically in a short period of time, from being completely sober on arrival to passing out on the floor in a short period of time.”

Elsewhere, the News & Observer looks at the backgrounds of the three co-captains who held the lease on the party house, who “are the only players known to have talked to police” in the case, while WRAL reports on Jesse Jackson’s attempt to inject himself into the case.

5 comments:

Any views expressed in these comments are solely those of their authors; they do not reflect the views of the authors of Signifying Nothing, unless attributed to one of us.

1. curious wrote @ Sat, 15 Apr 2006, 8:54 pm CDT:

Evans is 23. Zash and Flannery are 22.

A little old for undergrads, no?

2. Chris Lawrence wrote @ Sat, 15 Apr 2006, 9:07 pm CDT:

The typical HS graduate is 18–19, assuming they were promoted in line with their age group; 22–23 sounds right for college seniors about to graduate.

3. Tom Maguire wrote @ Sat, 15 Apr 2006, 10:42 pm CDT:

I have read that there is a standard test for roofies, the date rape drug of choice – it involves a urine sample, IIRC. If the police did not perform that test, just fire them now.

Of course, if the police performed that test and got a positive result, it would explain the DA’s zeal. But why no leak?

4. Chris Lawrence wrote @ Sat, 15 Apr 2006, 11:52 pm CDT:

Tom: There are conflicting accounts about what was actually done at the hospital; apparently toxicology tests (which would find roofies, alcohol, etc.) are not routinely performed as part of rape examinations, though you’d think someone who was obviously “out of it” would have been tested regardless.

Then again, there are conflicting accounts about what time she arrived and left the hospital; a police account shows her arriving at 2:31 a.m., but other stories have said that she left at 11 a.m. after being there 5–6 hours, which would place her arrival between 4 and 5 a.m.. The paper trail here is marred with something between terrible record-keeping and deliberate obfuscation.

5. Ryme wrote @ Sun, 16 Apr 2006, 4:25 pm CDT:

In my last year in college and a couple of years after, I was a stripper (male) because the top guys and girls can make couple hundred to a couple thousand working only a couple hours a night. (Not wanting to promote “stripping” because many guys and girls fall into a down word spiral of partying and drugs which is unavoidable).

Regarding the stripper being “slipped a ruffie”:

1) Whether inside a club or doing a “private party” you never accept a drink without seeing it being poured, or you fake drinking it to not offend people you’re depending on for tips. It’s pretty basic information commonly shared between “us”.
2) Whether you know you have an “awesome body” or you know you’re pretty good looking, it takes a lot of nerve taking your clothes off in front of people, especially if you know you’re going to strip down to nothing, so it’s good to take a couple of shots of tequila or my favorite “Crown and Coke”, but you gotta take something to take the edge off because if you come across as awkward, unsure, or stiff then your tips will suffer. Within a year I’ve seen strippers go from shots of liquor to lines of “coke” to smoking “ice”. I don’t know a single stripper that goes to a show “completely sober”.
3) A rape test includes a “tox” test to check for “rape drugs”. Rape shields allow this information to be used against the accused, but whether it’s allowed to incriminate the accuser is another question.

I’m wondering if the “unnamed source close to the investigation” ever talked to a stripper or know anything about the lifestyle. It’s a totally different world. If this person is truly “close to the investigation”, then he/she would have access to the “tox” test, and if this “unnamed source” isn’t that close, then this “unnamed source” is as uninformed as the rest of you.

Comments are now closed on this post.