Exonerated Central Park Five members sue Trump for making 'false and defamatory statements' during debate

NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK: Central Park Five has filed a lawsuit against Donald Trump for making "false and defamatory" statements about them during his presidential debate against Vice President Kamala Harris in September.

Yusef Salaam, Raymond Santana, Kevin Richardson, Antron McCray, and Korey Wise, who were wrongly convicted as teenagers of a brutal assault in 1989, filed the civil complaint in the US District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania on Monday, October 21, as per the New York Post.

According to them, Trump "falsely stated" that they had "killed an individual and pled guilty to the crime" during the ABC News debate.  

Central Park Five says they suffered injuries as a result of Donald Trump's false and defamatory remarks

The 18-page filing states, "These statements are demonstrably false. Plaintiffs never pled guilty to any crime and were subsequently cleared of all wrongdoing. Further, the victims of the Central Park assaults were not killed."

The complaint further asserts that the men have "suffered injuries as a result of Defendant Trump’s false and defamatory statements."

Central Park Five has demanded $225,000 in damages for defamation, false light, and intentional infliction of emotional distress.

In response to the lawsuit, Trump campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung said that it was "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."

He added, "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."

In 1990, a Manhattan jury convicted Salaam, Santana, McCray, Richardson, and Wise of physically assaulting Patricia Meili, a White woman who was jogging in Central Park on the night of April 19, 1989. 

Notably, Salaam, Santana, McCray, and Richardson were also convicted of assaults and a robbery of two other joggers in the park the same night. They were forced to confess without an attorney present before the trial.

Trump, then a prominent real estate mogul, published full-page ads in New York dailies on May 1, 1989, with headlines, "Bring Back The Death Penalty. Bring Back Our Police!"

While the ad did not mention the Central Park Five, it discussed particulars of the case as evidence of the lawlessness in New York.

In 2002, all five convictions were overturned when a confession and DNA evidence linked serial rapist Matias Reyes to the Meili assault. However, by then, the five-year statute of limitations had passed. The other assault convictions were also based on forced confessions and had to be vacated. 

Kamala Harris invoked Central Park Five's case during ABC News debate

During the presidential debate on September 10, Kamala Harris invoked the Central Park Five's case when she was asked about Donald Trump's remarks that the Democratic presidential nominee "happened to turn Black" and wielded her racial identity for political advantage.

The vice president said, "Let’s remember, this is the same individual who took out a full-page ad in the New York Times calling for the execution of five young Black and Latino boys who were innocent, the Central Park Five."

Trump reverted, "This is the most divisive presidency in the history of our country. There’s never been anything like it. They’re destroying our country. And they come up with things like what she just said going back many, many years when a lot of people, including Mayor [Michael] Bloomberg, agreed with me on the Central Park Five."

He went on to falsely state, "They pled guilty. And I said, 'Well, if they pled guilty they badly hurt a person, killed a person ultimately.'"