Three men who were accused of raping a UNM student in 2014, only to have the charges dropped, are suing the University.
In the lawsuit, the men allege that UNM’s investigation, conducted by police as well as the University, was flawed. The men claim they were presumed guilty because they were black, and that investigators failed to interview witnesses or obtain evidence that would have cleared them.
Attorney George Anthony Bleus represents Ryan Ruff, a CNM student, as well as Crusoe Gongbay and SaQwan Edwards, who were both UNM football players.
The lawsuit was filed on April 12 in the 2nd Judicial District Court. According to the lawsuit, the three men are seeking an unspecified amount of damages.
Bleus had been planning on filing the lawsuit for quite some time. In December of 2014, Bleus said he would eventually file suit, saying at the time that the case was “grossly mishandled.”
In 2014, the three men were charged with raping UNM student Courtney Spencer, but the case was dropped after prosecutors said there was insufficient evidence to move forward.
UNM Spokesperson Dianne Anderson said the University couldn’t comment on the case because they had not been served it yet.
“It is unfair and outrageous for Mr. Bleus to release the allegations of a lawsuit that he has not served on the University to media at the close of a business day,” she said in a statement. “While we have had no opportunity to review his clients’ claims, we stand by our police department, and we are confident that our procedures were fair to the parties involved in the case.”
Spencer filed a lawsuit of her own, claiming that UNM failed to follow Title IX procedures. That case is still pending.
Thomas Romero-Salas is the culture editor for the Daily Lobo. He can be reached at culture@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @ThomasRomeroS.
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