Disabled teen in Connecticut charged in sex assault of classmate

[June 27, 2014]  By Richard Weizel
 
 BRIDGEPORT Conn. (Reuters) - A mentally disabled Connecticut high school student has been charged with sexually assaulting a disabled fellow student in a school bathroom as classmates cheered him on, according to police and court documents.

Patrick Nolan, 19, was arraigned on Wednesday in Bridgeport Superior Court and charged with felony sexual assault and risk of injury to a child for the August 2013 attack on a 16-year-old classmate at Harding High School, police said.

An affidavit filed in the case painted a horrific scene of the incident drawn from details from a school surveillance video outside the bathroom and a student recording of the attack.

In the videos, a student shouts "keep going" while the victim is being sexually assaulted from behind, and afterward students are huddled together seemingly watching the cell phone recording, court documents stated.
 

The footage also showed a group of students clapping after the victim passes in front of the camera, according to the affidavit.

"(He) was having fun with my butt, asked me to pull my pants down and tries putting his private area into my butt. He pulls his pants down and starts like getting all nasty and everything. ... He was taking me from behind," the victim said to detectives in an interview.

Nolan's attorney, Mark Phillips, said the students who filmed the incident were instigators and were not disabled themselves.

"This was not some sociopath going into a high school at the age of 19 and raping a special needs kid," Phillips said. "This is something where able-minded students took advantage of these special education students."

Nolan was released by the court and ordered to return for a plea entry hearing on July 15.

The Bridgeport Public School District declined comment on Thursday. A spokesman for the Connecticut Department of Child and Families said the agency was barred by state law from providing additional information on the case.

(Writing by Curtis Skinner; Editing by Ellen Wulfhorst and Leslie Adler)

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