WASHINGTON, Feb. 21 (UPI) -- Thirty-eight members of the 2006 Duke lacrosse team have sued the school in another outgrowth of the scandal-tinged alleged rape case.
The team members, in Washington for a news conference Thursday, told of emotional distress and other injuries suffered when school officials remained silent about evidence that contradicted an escort service dancer's rape allegations.
Three other players were charged but were exonerated. They, too, have sued Duke and local officials.
The attorney for the 38 who filed the latest suit called it a "horrifying personal nightmare," The News and Observer, a Raleigh, N.C. newspaper, said.
"For more then a year, the lacrosse players were caught up in a horrifying personal nightmare," Chuck Cooper, the Washington lawyer handling the case, said in a statement. "They were harassed in class by teachers and their fellow students ... They were victimized by a corrupt investigation that ignored or suppressed evidence that would have cleared them. And, all for a crime that never took place."
The players' suit doesn't name former Durham County District Attorney Mike Nifong as a defendant because he has filed for bankruptcy.
However, the suit condemns Nifong, saying he hid and fabricated evidence, tampered with and intimidated witnesses, rigged photo lineups and ignored and hid evidence pointing to the players' innocence.
