Story of Florida's jailed rape victim, deprived of contraception...on MSNBC and AP

[madfloridian]

I have been watching to see if it got further attention.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16890986/

TAMPA, Fla. - "A woman 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, according to the college student’s attorney, a jail worker refused to give her a second dose of the morning-after contraceptive pill because of the worker’s religious convictions.
“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 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 said they were changing their policy to give officers more discretion on when to arrest a crime victim who has outstanding warrants."

Here is my original post on it last night. I had to wait almost an hour after I saw it on the news to find a link to it.

Woman raped, jailed, deprived of contraception. Tampa.

Her mother was on the news twice today, once with face blurred out, once without the blurring. Lovely lady. I saw a slightly blurred picture of the victim. Very lovely, a pre-med student.

What happened to her was a tragedy.

[madfloridian]

1. Now Reuters...

http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?type=domesticNews&storyID=2007-01-30T222510Z_01_B572595_RTRUKOC_0_US-FLORIDA-RAPE.xml&WTmodLoc=USNewsHome_C2_domesticNews-1

"The woman's mother told The Tampa Tribune newspaper her daughter was outraged by the treatment she received at the hands of local police.

"You've got to make sure you throw somebody in jail on a 4-year-old felony warrant after they've been brutally raped?" the mother asked.

"It was a failure to take the actual dynamics into play," she said."

From the local news, it sounds like it may have been a paperwork snafu about the 2003 charges. Waiting to see.

[Kber]

2. You know, when I first was the headlines, I assumed it was in Iran

how wrong was I?

[kerry-is-my-prez]

4. Well they will be one of our colonies soon if BushCo has their way.

Unfortunately for them, they are waaay too incompetent to manage that.

[Leopolds Ghost]

12. Do you suppose we'll end brutal practices such as hanging, or juvenile death penalty?

When we invade Iran, I mean. :sarcasm:

Everyone knows that's why we're trying to bring freedom and democracy
to the Middle East... people in this country would never stand for
such barbarism, so of course we won't tolerate it elsewhere.

certainly Bush and his cronies won't.

[AX10]

3. Sounds like Libya, Sudan,

Iran, and the rest of the middle east. Oh, I'm sorry, that happened here, in the United States.

:puke:

[WinkyDink]

5. It does? Even the part about going to a hospital?

[AX10]

7. Kber made a similar comment.

Why aren't you going after her too?

[kerry-is-my-prez]

6. She'd better sue them for all they're worth (the worker, the city, the state)

n/t

[madfloridian]

8. The worst part was arresting her while she was helping them search...

for her rapist. They moved her, handcuffed, from the front of the police car to the back. And they stopped the search for the rapist.

[madfloridian]

9. Florida Council Against Sexual Violence checking it out.

http://edition.cnn.com/2007/US/01/30/jailed.rapevictim.ap/

"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."

[tanyev]

10. I hope she sues.

[Avalon Sparks]

11. Please someone post where to write or call about this...

This is unbelievable.

Those heartless prick cops! That fucked up 'medical' supervisor. Their actions are INHUMAN.

That poor girl, I can't imagine how horrible.

I'm royally pissed about this.

[gatorboy]

13. Welcome to Jeb Bush country.