This combination photo shows, clockwise from top left, Raymond Santana, Yusef Salaam, Antron McCray, Korey Wise and Kevin Richardson, known as Central Park Five.
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AP/Invision
Former President Donald Trump again defended his actions in New York in the late ’80s surrounding the case of the Central Park Five (also called the Exonerated Five) during Tuesday night’s presidential debate.
Following the 1989 brutal assault of a New York jogger in Central Park, Trump famously took out full-page ads in the city’s major newspapers calling for the return of the death penalty for those responsible — further inciting racial tensions in the city.
Five Black and Hispanic teen boys were falsely accused and served years in prison before being exonerated by DNA and the confession of a convicted rapist and murderer.
But Tuesday night, Trump said that at the time the five Black and Latino teenagers who were falsely accused of the crime must have “badly hurt a person, killed a person, ultimately.” The victim in the case is still alive but deals with the lingering health effects of her attack.
It wasn’t the first time in recent years Trump has falsely claimed that the men were responsible for the attack.
Read on to learn more about the case that is making headlines, again.
What happened in April 1989?
In 1989, Trisha Meili was a 28-year-old investment banker out for a jog in Central Park when she was brutally beaten and raped. Following the violent attack, Meili fell into a coma for almost two weeks and retained no memory of the attack.
New York City at the time was dealing with high violent crime rates and the media covered the case extensively. On the same night Meili was attacked, witnesses told media and police that groups of teenage boys attacked passersby and other joggers, robbing and beating them.
Police brought in a group of Black and Hispanic teen boys — Antron McCray, Kevin Richardson, Raymond Santana, Korey Wise and Yusef Salaam — and subjected them to intense questioning.
“The boys were christened the ‘Wolf Pack,’ and quickly became symbols of the criminal menace that white New Yorkers felt had captured their city,” Poynter said of the media at the time.
Trump jumped on the media circus of the day and purchased his full-page ad in the New York Times and other major city newspapers.
What happened after their arrest?
McCray, Richardson, Santana, Wise and Salaam broke down after hours of questioning, confessing on videotape — statements the boys ultimately recanted, saying they were coerced.
“When we were arrested, the police deprived us of food, drink or sleep for more than 24 hours,” Salaam wrote in the Washington Post in 2016. “Under duress, we falsely confessed.”
The five pleaded not guilty but were imprisoned and served several years in prison.
Salaam wrote in that 2016 article, “Though we were innocent, we spent our formative years in prison, branded as rapists.”
This case is often used by juvenile justice experts as an example of the vulnerability of children and teens who come into contact with the criminal justice system. Their brains are not fully developed and research shows that juveniles are more likely than adults to confess to a crime they did not commit.
The case has also repeatedly been used as evidence of a criminal justice system prejudiced against individuals of color.
It wasn’t until 2002 that the five men were exonerated after convicted rapist and murderer Matias Reyes confessed to the crime. Reye’s DNA matched the sample found on Meili.
After their convictions were vacated, the five men received a multi-million dollar settlement from New York City.
The Central Park Five join Reverend Al Sharpton during the Democratic National Convention last month in Chicago.
Charles Rex Arbogast/AP
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Charles Rex Arbogast/AP
Again and again, Trump has stood by the false belief that the men are guilty
Trump has never apologized for taking out the full-page ad (which didn’t name the five men explicitly) and decades later continues to repeat claims that they were responsible for the attack.
Salaam wrote in his article that when Trump was asked about the case during the 2016 presidential race, he said, “They admitted they were guilty.” And in a statement to CNN at the time Trump also said, “The police doing the original investigation say they were guilty. The fact that that case was settled with so much evidence against them is outrageous.”
Salaam said Trump’s claims do damage, and cause fear and stress.
“In some ways, I feel like I’m on trial all over again. I know what it is to be a young black man without a voice — like Trayvon Martin and Mike Brown, who were killed and then crucified in the press. Even though the Central Park Five were found innocent by a court of law, we are still guilty in the eyes of many,” Salaam wrote. “That brings a certain kind of stress.”
Three years later, in 2019, Trump again said, “You have people on both sides of that. They admitted their guilt,” the New York Times reported. “If you look at some of the prosecutors, they think that the city never should have settled that case — so we’ll leave it at that.”
Trump falsely said, when asked during the debate, that the Central Park Five must have “badly hurt a person, killed a person, ultimately.”
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Salaam, who along with three other members of the Exonerated Five spoke at the Democratic National Convention and is now a New York City council member, was in the post-debate spin room, where he came face-to-face with Trump. The former president didn’t appear to know who Salaam was when asked by reporters whether he would apologize.
The Independent reported on the incident, saying Trump, “grinned and pointed at [Salaam], quipping: ‘That’s good, you’re on my side!'”
According to the outlet, Salaam seemed taken aback — he was in the room supporting Vice President Kamala Harris — saying, “‘No, no, I’m not on your side!'” before Trump walked away.
