Suit over Pa. teen's suicide settled

By Associated Press, 9/12/2003

MINERSVILLE, Pa. -- The mother of a high school football player who committed suicide has settled a lawsuit claiming police were responsible because they threatened to tell his family he was gay.

Madonna Sterling and her attorney will get $100,000 from the borough of Minersville, about 55 miles northeast of Harrisburg.

Family lawyers saw little chance they would recover more than that from the town, which has a population of around 4,500, according Kyle Quandel, a family friend and spokesman. "The family is devastated," Quandel said. "This is not what they wanted."

In 1997, two officers approached Sterling's son, Marcus Wayman, 18, and a 17-year-old male friend in a car and took them to the police station on charges of underage drinking. Police later testified that the boys said they stopped to have sex. The 17-year-old denied that claim, and said the officers jumped to conclusions after finding condoms.

An officer allegedly threatened to tell their families they were gay. Wayman shot himself a few hours later.

Sterling sued the town and three officers, claiming they violated her son's right to privacy. Friends and family testified at the first trial that Wayman was not gay.

A jury ruled in favor of the three officers in 2001, but US District Judge Arnold Rapoport overturned that decision last year. The attorney for the officers and the town, Robert G. Hanna, called the settlement appropriate.

"To have to go through this trial again would emotionally be a very difficult thing to do," he said.