Four teenagers have been arrested in the rape of a Louisiana State University sorority member after she was dumped on the side of the road and fatally struck by a car following a night of drinking, police said. Questions gave been made about establishments and underage drinking.
Kaivon Deondre Washington, 18, Everett Lee, 28, and Casen Carver, 18, turned themselves in Monday, more than a week after 19-year-old Madison Brooks was fatally struck in Baton Rouge, the Advocate reported. A fourth suspect, a 17-year-old boy who had not been identified because he is a minor, turned himself in on Sunday, the outlet reported.
Carver admitted to police that Brooks “was very unstable on her feet, was not able to keep her balance, and was unable to speak clearly without slurring her words,” the document states. Carver told investigators he witnessed Brooks and the 17-year-old boy “hugging and walking together,” saying she asked for a ride home.
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“He admitted that he agreed to give her a ride because he did not want to leave her while very intoxicated and the bar was closing up,” the arrest warrant says. Carver told authorities that he sat in the driver’s seat and Lee was in the front passenger seat, while Washington and the 17-year-old were in the back along with Brooks.
He said he asked Brooks for her address, “but she fell over and could not answer him.” the warrant says, “so he drove a short distance and pulled over.” Carver “stated he overheard his 17-year-old juvenile friend as he asked the victim five times if she wanted to have sex with him,” to which Brooks “gave verbal consent,” according to the document.
Washington and an unidentified 17-year-old were charged with third-degree rape, while Lee and Carver were charged with principle to third-degree rape. Ron Haley, an attorney for two of the suspects, told WAFB that this was “absolutely not a rape. Listen, this is a tragedy, definitely not a crime.”
He told the outlet that a video taken during the incident shows Brooks was coherent.
“Can you tell that she was intoxicated, yes. To the point under the law that you say you’re in a drunken stupor, to the point that you cannot lawfully give consent or answer questions, absolutely that was not the case,” Haley told WAFB.
The attorney claimed Brooks and Carver got into an argument in his car.
“Based on a disagreement, she got out of the vehicle. She indicated she was getting an Uber. I want the public to know, these young men or really the driver of the vehicle and the young men that were in there, did not put her off on the side of the road,” he said.
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