Members of the “Central Park Five” sued former President Donald Trumplaston Monday over “false and defamatory” statements they allege he made about their 1989 case throughout a presidential debate month.
The 5 males declare in a 20-page federal lawsuit that Trump knew he was appearing with “reckless disregard” for the reality when he stated throughout the September debate with Vice President Kamala Harris that they pleaded responsible to crimes linked to the beating and raping a girl in New York Metropolis, and that the 5 youngsters “badly hurt a person, killed a person” within the assault.
“Defendant Trump’s statements were false and defamatory in numerous respects,” attorneys for the lads, now all of their 50s, wrote within the lawsuit filed in federal court docket in Philadelphia. “Plaintiffs never pled guilty to the Central Park assaults. Plaintiffs all pled not guilty and maintained their innocence throughout their trial and incarceration, as well as after they were released from prison.”
“None of the victims of the Central Park assaults were killed,” the attorneys wrote.
CNN has reached out to Trump representatives for remark.
The boys are looking for compensatory and punitive damages. The swimsuit additionally claims that Trump’s feedback positioned them in a false gentle and brought about them to “suffer severe emotional distress.”
The group was pressured into giving false confessions within the case. They had been exonerated in 2002 when DNA proof linked one other particular person to the crime. The youngsters sued town, and the case was settled in 2014.
CNN’s Kate Sullivan contributed to this report.
