Donald Trump Faces New Central Park 5 Lawsuit After Debate Remarks

The five men wrongfully convicted of a 1989 New York City assault who became known as the “Central Park Five,” have filed a defamation lawsuit against former President Donald Trump.
The report states, the suit filed in Pennsylvania federal court was prompted by Trump’s recent remarks during his presidential debate with Vice President Kamala Harris, where he falsely claimed that the men were responsible for the crime and that the victim in the incident had died.
During the September 10 debate in Philadelphia, Trump said that the five Black and Latino teenagers falsely accused of the crime “badly hurt a person, killed a person, ultimately.” The victim in the case is still alive but reportedly deals with lingering health issues of her attack.
In 1989, Trump took out full-page ads in four prominent New York newspapers calling for the death penalty against the five boys, aged 14 to 16. The ad campaign reportedly cost $85,000. The Central Park Five have long maintained their innocence, and their convictions were overturned in 2002 following DNA evidence that exonerated them.
The new lawsuit highlights that the men never pleaded guilty to the Central Park assaults and consistently maintained their innocence throughout their trial, incarceration, and even after their exoneration.
The lawsuit also details an interaction between a member of the Central Park Five and Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, in the spin room following the September 10 debate in Philadelphia. During this encounter, Mr. [Yusef] Salaam introduced himself to Trump, who then remarked, “you’re on my side.” Salaam replied, “no, I’m not on your side,” to which Trump simply smiled, walked away, and waved.
The plaintiffs are seeking compensatory and punitive damages, claiming that Trump’s statements placed them in a false light and caused them to suffer severe emotional distress.
“Defendant Trump has previously made numerous public statements demonstrating that he is familiar with the Central Park assaults, the criminal case, the trials, the exoneration and the settlement with the City, and that he therefore knew that the statements he made on September 10, 2024, were false and misleading. Like his statements at the September 10 debate, many of Defendant Trump’s past statements are themselves false, defamatory and part of a continuing pattern of extreme and outrageous conduct directed at Plaintiffs,” lead attorneys Shanin Spector and Alex Van Dyke wrote in the filing.
Newsweek has reached out to the Trump campaign, along with the Central Park 5’s attorneys, via email Monday morning for comment.
Five black teenagers were wrongfully prosecuted and convicted for the rape and assault of 28-year-old investment banker Trisha Meili in New York’s Central Park in 1989.
The five youths; Antron McCray, Kevin Richardson, Yusef Salaam, Raymond Santana and Korey Wise, were all coerced into giving false confessions by a prosecution spearheaded by Assistant District Attorney Linda Fairstein, before serving time behind bars for a crime they did not commit.
The five, now all in their 50s, were only exonerated in 2002 when serial rapist and murderer Matias Reyes confessed to being the one who attacked Meili all those years ago. The five would go on to sue New York City, but did not receive a settlement until 2014.
In 2003, McCray, Richardson, Salaam, Santana and Wise sued New York City for malicious prosecution, racial discrimination, and emotional distress. Then-Mayor of New York, Michael Bloomberg, refused to settle the suits because the city’s lawyers believed they could win in court against the five.
After Bill de Blasio was elected mayor in 2014, he decided to settle with the five men, leading to them being awarded $41 million. The decision did not please former President Donald Trump, who had previously taken out a full-page newspaper ad calling for the five to be executed.
In an op-ed for the New York Daily News, Trump blasted the settlement as “ridiculous” and a “disgrace.” He also refused to admit he was wrong about the five, saying “Settling doesn’t mean innocence,” and adding “Speak to the detectives on the case and try listening to the facts. These young men do not exactly have the pasts of angels.”
The five men would go on to file a suit against New York State for an additional $52 million in damages, receiving a settlement of just $3.9 million from the New York State Court of Claims in 2016. Wise, who was the only one tried as an adult and spent the longest in prison with 12 years behind bars, received $1.5 million.
Salaam and Richardson, who spent six years and eight months and five years and five months in prison respectively, both received $650,000. McCray, who was incarcerated for six years received $600,000, while Santana, who served five years behind bars received $500,000.
In 2019, when asked outside the White House if he would apologize to the Central Park Five, the former president responded, “You have people on both sides of that. They admitted their guilt.”
Trump has never apologized for publishing the full-page ad, which did not name the five men, and decades later, he continues to assert that they were responsible for the 1989 attack.
“Defendant Trump’s statements were false and defamatory in numerous respects,” attorneys for the men, now all in their 50s, wrote in the lawsuit filed in federal court 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.
Four members of the Central Park Five, Salaam, Richardson, Wise and Santana, spoke at August’s Democratic National Convention in Chicago in support of Democratic nominee Kamala Harris.
The men told the audience that Harris has “worked to make things fairer,” contrasting her to Trump, who “wanted us unalive.” The latter disputed Trump’s public safety and testified “firsthand” that “crime is down and police funding is up.”
This is a developing news story and will be updated with more information.
Update: 10/21/24, 12:12 p.m.: This article has been updated with more information.