The Central Park Five is suing former President Donald Trump for defamation.
The crux of the lawsuit revolves around Trump’s comments at the Sept. 10 presidential debate about the group’s wrongful convictions for rape and assault, according to a report in The Hill.
“And I said, well, if they pled guilty they badly hurt a person, killed a person ultimately. And if they pled guilty — then they pled we’re not guilty,” Trump said.
The Central Park Five are Black and Hispanic teenagers who were wrongfully convicted of the 1989 rape and assault of a woman jogging in Central Park.
Their convictions were ultimately overturned in 2002, but not before they spent years in prison.
Only after the person responsible for the crime confessed and was backed up by DNA evidence were the five released.
According to the lawsuit, the five never pleaded guilty and the victim did not die. The lawsuit claims Trump’s comments were said with a “reckless disregard for their falsity” to the 10s of millions of Americans who watched the debate.
“Defendant Trump’s conduct at the September 10 debate was extreme and outrageous, and it was intended to cause severe emotional distress to Plaintiffs,” per the complaint.
The lawsuit was filed in federal court in Pennsylvania. It includes claims of defamation, false light and intentional infliction of emotional distress.
Trump’s camp downplayed the lawsuit.
“This is just another frivolous, Election Interference lawsuit, filed by desperate left-wing activists, in an attempt to distract the American people from Kamala Harris’s dangerously liberal agenda and failing campaign,” Steven Cheung, Trump campaign spokesman, said in a statement.
“The frantic lawfare efforts by Lyin’ Kamala’s allies to interfere in the election are going nowhere and President Trump is dominating as he marches to a historic win for the American people on November 5th,” he said.
Trump spoke about the group when Harris said Trump paid for full-page advertisements in major New York newspapers in 1989.
Trump called for the death penalty.
“Took out a full-page ad calling for their execution,” Harris said at the debate.
The Central Park Five, who are Antron McCray, Kevin Richardson, Yusef Salaam, Raymond Santana and Korey Wise, received a $41 million settlement from New York City after they filed a civil rights lawsuit.
Salaam now sits on the New York City Council and confronted Trump minutes after Trump commented on the new lawsuit last month.
“I’m Yusef Salaam, one of the Exonerated Five,” he said.
“You’re on my side,” Trump said in reply.
“No, no, no. I’m not on your side,” Salaam retorted.
