DuVernay announced the release of the trailer on social media via Twitter. She posted, “On this exact day 30 years ago a woman was raped in Central Park. Five black + brown boys were framed for her rape. The story you know is the lie that police, prosecutors and Donald Trump told you. WHEN THEY SEE US is the story of the boys from their eyes and their hearts.”
The Central Park jogger case was a major news story that involved the assault and rape of Trisha Meili, a white female jogger, and attacks on others in Manhattan’s Central Park on the night of April 19, 1989. The attack on the jogger left her in a coma for 12 days. Meili was a 28-year-old investment banker at the time.
Five teenagers, Antron McCray, Kevin Richardson, Raymond Santana, Korey Wise, and Yusef Salaam, who would later become known as the Central Park Five, confessed to her rape and beating after many hours of aggressive interrogation at the hands of seasoned homicide detectives. The five served their full sentences, between 6 and 13 years, before another man, serial rapist Matias Reyes, admits to the crime, and DNA testing supports his confession.
During their trials, Donald Trump took out a full-page ad in New York newspapers titled “BRING BACK THE DEATH PENALTY,” writing, “How can our great society tolerate the continued brutalization of its citizens by crazed misfits? Criminals must be told that their CIVIL LIBERTIES END WHEN AN ATTACK ON OUR SAFETY BEGINS!”
The convictions were vacated in 2002 after the real rapist confessed and was matched with DNA evidence. In 2014, the city agreed to a $41 million settlement with Santana, Richardson, McCray, Salaam, and Wise. Also, the five men are pursuing an additional $52 million in damages from New York State in the New York Court of Claims
Check out the powerful trailer below.
