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NEW MEXICO, 2002 - GAY TEENAGER BEATEN, SKULL FRACTURED, ABANDONED IN SUB-ZERO TEMPERATURES

Thursday, February 07, 2002 - A coalition of gay and lesbian groups is announcing today that a lawsuit is being filed against six Rifle residents in the alleged beating of a gay teenager a year ago after a night of drunken partying.

Found along road

The lawsuit being filed by Kyle Skyock and his mother, Sharlene Skyock, in federal court in Denver alleges that four young men conspired under both federal and state laws to deprive Kyle Skyock, 17, of his civil rights. Six other claims allege that four young men - three of them are minors - assaulted and falsely imprisoned Skyock. Two claims of negligence and liability were filed against two parents of the young men.

Skyock suffered a fractured skull, several broken ribs, and scrape wounds on the backs of his hands and one shoulder after attending a late-night party in Rifle on Feb. 10, 2001.

A jogger found him alongside U.S. 6, where he had lain in subfreezing temperatures for more than seven hours. Skyock, who was comatose for three days, initially told authorities he did not remember what had happened to him that night after he left his job at the Rifle Elks Lodge.

An investigation determined he had attended a party. Blood alcohol tests showed Skyock was highly intoxicated at the time he was injured.

Dr. Rob Kurtzman, a forensic pathologist in Grand Junction, examined Skyock twice while he was in St. Mary's Hospital, took photographs of his injuries and examined the clothing Skyock had on when he was injured.

Rifle police had initially investigated Skyock's injuries as an assault, but Kurtzman determined the injuries were more consistent with "an individual who was intoxicated and had fallen."

Skyock's parents and the coalition of gay and lesbian rights groups, who are assisting in the filing the lawsuit, disagree with Kurtzman's findings. They sought a second opinion from Arapahoe County Coroner Dr. Michael Dobersen. Using reports and photographs supplied by an attorney for the Skyocks, Dobersen said he found Skyock's injuries more consistent with a beating.

Later remembered beating

Some time after the accident, Skyock said his memory of events that night returned and he remembered leaving the party with the four individuals named in the lawsuit. He said he remembered being beaten.

"This lawsuit is about seeking justice for Kyle and his mother," said Michael Brewer, legal director of the Colorado Legal Initiatives Project, a gay and lesbian legal advocacy group assisting in the filing of the lawsuit.

 - By Nancy Lofholm, Denver Post