Police Report: Alleged Victim Changed Story

Friday, May 26, 2006

(05/26/06 -- DURHAM) (WTVD) -- The woman who accused three Duke lacrosse players of raping her changed her story and appeared to fake being unconscious, according to a police report obtained Friday by Eyewitness News.

We obtained documents from a new motion filed by defense attorney Joe Cheshire. His client, David Evans, is one of the accused players.

Among the documents is a supplemental report, written by Sgt. J.C. Shelton of the Durham Police Department on April 9.

"I was a few blocks away from 610 N. Buchanan," Shelton wrote. "I responded and was on scene first."

After finding the house dark and quiet, Shelton cleared the scene. He then was called to the Kroger store, where Kim Roberts stated that the alleged victim would not get out of her car. Roberts said she didn't know the woman, but that she picked up the woman after seeing white males yelling racial slurs at her.

"[Roberts] said that she did not know if the female was drunk or high and she was afraid of what the white males might do to the woman," Shelton wrote.

He then walked over to the car and saw the alleged victim.

"She was wearing a see-through red outfit, with no undergarments and one high-heel shoe," Shelton wrote. "She was unconscious."

Shelton says he got an ammonia capsule from his patrol car.

"When I used it, the female began mouth-breathing, which is a sign that she was not really unconscious," he wrote. "My experience is that unconscious people wake up rather quickly when exposed to ammonia capsules.

"I grabbed the female and attempted to pull her from the vehicle. She grabbed the emergency brake with her left hand and would not come out of the car. At this point, I applied a bent wrist come-along [maneuver] to her right-hand arm? once she was out of the car, I released the pressure and she collapsed to the ground."

Shelton says the woman would not speak with police officers, so they decided to take her for involuntary commitment at the Durham Access Center. A short time later, Shelton got a call from another officer that made him go back at talk to the alleged victim again.

"He called me and stated the female stated she had been raped...Once at Duke [Hospital], I spoke to the female, who was now cooperative," Shelton wrote. "She said some of the guys from the party pulled her from the vehicle and groped her. She told me that no one forced her to have sex."

Then, Shelton says the alleged victim's story changed again.

"Within a few minutes, I was told that she told the [doctor] that she had been raped? I returned? and asked her if she had or had not been raped. She told me she did not want to talk to me anymore and then started crying and saying something about them dragging her into the bedroom."

The report also shows inconsistencies with the story from the second dancer, Kim Roberts. The alleged victim called her "Nikki" that night. According to the report, neither woman told police that Roberts also performed at the lacrosse team's party.

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