The Daily UV took down a blog post regarding a sexual assault case and issued a formal apology after people felt offended by the headline and subhead.
“A blogger who covers local breaking news published an article on our site which caused great offense to a number of readers… we decided to remove the article … [and] want to apologize to all those who were hurt by the blog post in question,” reads the apology.
Headlined “Chester honor roll student faces potential life sentence” with the subhead, “Two teen girls say they were drunk when sexually assaulted,” the Tuesday blog post reports that a high school student in Vermont was charged with two counts of rape Tuesday.
Stocker pleaded innocent of felony sexual assault without consent — charges that in Vermont carry a minimum of three years in jail and maximum of penalty to life, if convicted — at Windsor County Courthouse Tuesday afternoon.
The blog says that 18-year-old Ryan Stocker will not attend his graduation Friday or be present for the rest of school because he is not allowed within 300 feet of his purported victims.
Police Detective Sgt. Richard King wrote in the case’s affidavit that “a 16-year-old girl came forward to authorities in October and reported that she thought she had been sexually assaulted by Stocker after she got drunk and spent the night.” The girl told investigators that she remembered drinking several beers, throwing up and being “extremely drowsy,” and getting into a bed with her clothes on. She added that she “woke the following morning very disoriented and confused” and that Stocker explained to her nonchalantly, “we had sex.”
Chester Police Officer Andrew Brothers said a different 18-year-old girl told school officials in May that she thought Stocker had sexually taken advantage of her after she had been drinking at a party. When Brothers interviewed Stocker, he said that he and the girl both had initiated a sexual encounter “mutually” and halted after she changed her mind midway. The girl told police she remembered a little and “was not okay” with the parts she did. Stocker also told investigators he was “highly intoxicated” during the encounter and thought the girl “had a significant amount to drink as well,” according to Brothers’ report.
HuffPost took issue with the Daily UV post Wednesday in an article headlined, “The Problem With Identifying An Alleged Rapist As An ‘Honor Roll Student.'” Writer Alanna Vagianos wrote that readers need to know Stocker is a senior in high school who allegedly sexually assaulted two girls ages 16 and 18, but don’t need to know he’s an honor student.
She cites BuzzFeed reporter Tyler Kingkade who tweeted that the Daily UV’s headline was extremely problematic because you wouldn’t know that a student allegedly sexually assaulted two students from the headline.
Vagianos says that by identifying Stocker as an honor roll student, Daily UV “fuels the delusional argument that an abuser’s crimes can somehow be nullified if he has a promising future.”
The blog post can no longer be found on the Daily UV’s website.
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