Rape victim is jailed on old warrant
TAMPA, Florida (AP) — A college student who told police she had been raped was jailed for two days after officers found an old warrant accusing her of failing to pay restitution for a 2003 theft arrest.
While she was behind bars, a jail worker refused to give her a second dose of the morning-after contraceptive pill because of the worker's religious convictions, the college student's attorney said.
The 21-year-old woman was released Monday only after attorney Vic Moore reported her plight to the local media. (Watch the mother describe how her daughter was twice vicitimized )
"Shocked. Stunned. Outraged. I don't have words to describe it," Moore said. "She is not a victim of any one person. She is a victim of the system. There's just got to be some humanity involved when it's a victim of rape."
Moore said the young woman was not allowed to take the second emergency contraceptive pill until Monday afternoon, a day late, after reporters called police and jail officials.
Tampa Police Chief Steve Hogue said the arrest led to a new policy Tuesday that tells officers not to arrest a crime victim who has suffered injury or mental trauma whenever "reasonably possible." The agency also apologized to the student.
"Obviously, any policy that allows a sexual battery victim to spend a night in jail is a flawed policy," police spokeswoman Laura McElroy said.
The woman is not being identified by The Associated Press because she reported being the victim of a sex crime.
Tampa attorney Jennifer D'Angelo, who represents the jail worker, said Tuesday that her client is prohibited from giving inmates any medication without specific orders. The worker insists she never discussed religion with the woman who reported being raped.
"She was mortified at what was being reported in the press," said D'Angelo, who declined to identify the worker. "She's frightened for her job and she's frightened about community backlash about these allegations."
The employee, who has worked for a jail health care contractor for about six months, was placed on administrative leave, D'Angelo said.
Moore said it was too soon to say if his client would sue. Her priority is making sure detectives find her attacker.
"She is brave," Moore said. "We are going to work with police to catch this monster."
The woman was in Tampa on Saturday for Gasparilla, an annual pirate-theme parade that draws thousands of people. She said she was walking alone to her car when a man pulled her behind a building and raped her, McElroy said.
She reported the rape Saturday afternoon, and officers took her to a rape crisis center where she was given the first of two doses of the morning-after pill, McElroy said. The second dose is supposed to be taken within 24 hours.
Later, as she was riding in a patrol car trying to locate the crime scene in the dark, police found the warrant stemming from a 2003 juvenile arrest for grand theft and burglary. It said she owed $4,585.
"They stopped the investigation right there" and put her in handcuffs, Moore said.
Authorities arranged a special bail hearing Monday.
"When the chief's office learned we had a rape victim in jail, we began working very aggressively to get her out," McElroy said.
Jennifer Dritt, executive director of the Florida Council Against Sexual Violence, wanted more explanation from the jail, saying the woman's arrest "makes people think law enforcement doesn't have a victim-centered approach."
Moore said his client said she paid the fine for what he described as a childish mistake. He didn't have details of that arrest. The woman has no criminal history as an adult, according to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.
Looks like I found a replacement for the blog software…BITCH!ASS!SUMFUCK!DAMMIT!HOE!HELL!
The good news, this new CMS is more full featured and exstensible to 'teh max'.
The bad news, this new CMS if mroe full featured and exstensible.
So what will probably happen is this site will get archived(hopefully), and we'll essentially 'start from scratch' with the new site, new look, new feel.
!++5++!
**UPDATE**
Fixed typos
The sad thing about this article is that the essence of it is true. The
truth hurts. I just hope this sets more Black people in motion towards
making real progress. Chris Rock, a Black comedian, even joked that
Blacks don't read.
Help prove them wrong! Read and pass on.
Please Note:
For those of you who heard it, this is the article Dee Lee was reading
this morning on a New York radio station. For those of you who didn't
hear it, this is very deep. This is a heavy piece and a Caucasian wrote
it.
Dee Lee, CFP
Harvard Financial Educators
Dee Lee
THEY ARE STILL OUR SLAVES We can continue to reap profits from the
Blacks without the effort of physical slavery Look at the current
methods of containment that they use on themselves: IGNORANCE, GREED,
and SELFISHNESS.
Their IGNORANCE is the primary weapon of containment. A great man once
said, "The best way to hide something from Black people is to put it in
a book." We now live in the Information Age. They have gained the
opportunity to read any book on any subject through the efforts of their
fight for freedom, yet they refuse to read. There are numerous books
readily available at Borders, Barnes & Noble, and Amazon.com, no t to
mention their own Black Bookstores that provide solid blueprints to
reach economic equality (which should have been their fight all along),
but few read consistently, if at all.
GREED is another powerful weapon of containment. Blacks, since the
abolition of slavery, have had large amounts of money at their disposal.
Last year they spent 10 billion dollars during Christmas, out of their
450 billion dollars in total yearly income (2.22%).
Any of us can use them as our target market, for any business venture
we care to dream up, no matter how outlandish, they will buy into it.
Being primarily a consumer people, they function totally by greed. They
continually want more, with little thought for saving or investing.
They would rather buy some new sneaker than invest in starting a
business. Some even neglect their children to have the latest Tommy or FUBU, And
they still think that having a Mercedes, and a big house gives them
"Status" or that they have achieved their Dream.
They are fools! The vast majority of their people are still in poverty
because their greed holds them back from collectively making better
communities.
With the help of BET, and the rest of their black media that often
broadcasts destructive images into their own homes, we will continue to
see huge profits like those of Tommy and Nike. (Tommy Hilfiger has e ven
jeered them, saying he doesn't want their money, and look at how the
fools spend more with him than ever before!). They'll continue to show
off to each other while we build solid communities with the profits
from our businesses that we market to them.
SELFISHNESS, ingrained in their minds through slavery, is one of the
major ways we can continue to contain them. One of their own, Dubois
said that there was an innate division in their culture.. A "Talented
Tenth" he called it. He was correct in his deduction that there aresegments of their culture that has achieved some "form" of success.
However, that segment missed the fullness of his work. They didn't read
that the "Talented Tenth" was then responsible to aid The Non-Talented
Ninety Percent in achieving a better life. Instead, that segment has
created another class, a Buppie class that looks down on their people
or aids them in a condescending manner. They will never achieve what we
have. Their selfishness does not allow them to be able to work together
on any project or endeavor of substance. When they do get together,
their selfishness lets their egos get in the way of their goal Their
so-called help organizations seem to only want to promote their name
without making any real change in their community.
They are content to sit in conferences and conventions in our hotels,
and talk about what they will do, while they award plaques to the best
speakers, not to the best doers. Is there no end to their s elfishness?
They steadfastly refuse to see that TOGETHER EACH ACHIEVES MORE (TEAM)
They do not understand that they are no better than each other because
of what they own, as a matter of fact, most of those Buppies are but
one or two pay checks away from poverty. All of which is under the
control of our pens in our offices and our rooms.
Yes, we will continue to contain them as long as they refuse to re ad,
continue to buy anything they want, and keep thinking they are "helping"
their communities by paying dues to organizations which do little other
than hold lavish conventions in our hotels. By the way, don't worry
about any of them reading this letter, remember, 'THEY DON'T READ!!!!
(Prove them wrong. Please pass this on! After Reading it..
Larry Williams
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