Attorneys representing the family of a 12-year-old who says she was gang raped at a Baltimore County roller rink assailed last week's release of video surveillance footage and challenged the owners to close down the business pending a review of its policies.
Skateworks owners are "attacking the credibility of a 12-year-old rape victim to save themselves from poor business practices," wrote attorneys Janice Bledsoe and Sandra Goldthorpe in a letter to The Baltimore Sun. If they "truly wish to get to the bottom of what occurred that day, they should release all original videos" to investigators, the letter said.
"We spent probably 2 1/2 hours going fact-by-fact [with the family], and she has been completely consistent," Bledsoe, who has been retained by the family for possible civil litigation, said in an interview. "They are so outraged that this victim has been called into question."
The girl told police she was approached by three men at the Woodlawn skate rink and dragged into a storage room, where they took turns raping her and forced her to perform sex acts. Two teens have been charged as adults, and a 24-year-old also was charged.
Days later, an attorney for the skate rink, Paul W. Gardner, said the girl's story had "inconsistencies" and released edited images from the business' surveillance camera system that he said indicate the girl willingly accompanied two of the three males later accused of assaulting her in a small storage room.
Rather than raise questions about the girl's account, Bledsoe and Goldthorpe said the video shows a "frightening glimpse" of two young girls being ushered down a hall as one is held by the waist. Davon Perry, 24, is shown standing to the side of the doorway, "lying in wait," they say.
"The video doesn't show us that defendant Perry didn't follow the victim down the hall. The video is stopped by the Skateworks' owners who don't want us to see what Defendant Perry does and where he goes," they wrote.
County police spokesman Lt. Robert McCullough said police were initially unable to review the surveillance footage but have since obtained a complete version.
"The night of the incident, there was no one with enough technical expertise to download the video," McCullough said. "However, investigators responded over there [the day the footage was released to the media] and Skateworks was cooperative and released the video. To my knowledge, it's the full video."
Reached for comment, Gardner requested a copy of Bledsoe's letter but did not return phone calls seeking comment.
Bledsoe said Skateworks did not secure open, unlocked rooms; does not have sufficient lighting in dark hallways; and did not provide adequate security to prevent the public from roaming throughout the facility, despite claims on its website that it is a safe and secure business. The attorneys called for the rink to close pending a review by county officials of its policies and procedures, including "their lack of security."
Bledsoe said the girl has started counseling and is distraught over the incident. "She has an incredibly supportive family," Bledsoe said.