By TINA MOORE Associated
Press, November 8, 2001
PHILADELPHIA (AP) - Police are not responsible for the
death of
a high school football player who killed himself after
officers allegedly
threatened to tell his family he was gay, a federal jury
decided late
Wednesday.
Jurors cleared three police officers in a civil lawsuit
that
claimed they caused
18-year-old Marcus Wayman's death
in 1997 by threatening to tell his grandfather he was gay.
Officers approached Wayman and a 17-year-old male friend in
a
car. Police frisked
the teens, and found the younger one with two condoms.
Officers Scott Willinsky and Thomas Hoban took them to the
station on
underage drinking charges.
Scott Willinsky later testified that both boys conceded
that
they had stopped to have sex, although the 17-year-old
disputes
making the statement. Willinsky allegedly asked if they were "queer''
and threatened to tell their families they were gay.
Wayman told his friend he was going to kill himself. A few
hours later, he found the keys to the gun cabinet at his
home and shot
himself in the head, according to court testimony. Wayman's mother,
Madonna Sterling, filed a civil suit over her son's death,
charging that the
town and three of its police officers - Joseph Willinsky,
Scott Willinsky and Hoban –
violated Wayman's right to privacy.
Joseph Willinsky is the police chief and father of Scott
Willinsky. A spokesman for the
Lesbian and Gay Rights project of the American Civil
Liberties Union, which represented
Sterling, said an appeal would be difficult.
"People feel this sense of progress. We turn on our TV's and watch 'Will &
Grace' and think
that things are better for gay people in America. Then, we
turn around and see this kind
of thing,'' Eric Ferrero said. "This kind of stuff still goes on. What happened in Minersville
wasn't an anomaly.''
Joseph Willinsky, Scott Willinsky and Hoban do not have
listed telephone numbers and could
not be reached for comment. Defense lawyer Robert Hanna of Harrisburg could not be reached
for comment Wednesday night after normal business hours.
Sterling has never talked publicly about the case,
according to Ferrero. Minersville,
population
4,877, is about 55 miles northeast of Harrisburg.