Cops: Witnesses Didn't Help Rape Victim

[Eris0303]

Posted: 10/27/09 at 12:36pm

How could people just walk away from something like this? Is this a case of the "not my problem" mentality?
Cops: Witnesses Didn't Help Rape Victim

[tazber]

Posted: 10/27/09 at 12:41pm

Not only did they not help, more people came over and joined in.

Words fail to express the horror.

"As people announced over time that this was going on, more people came to see, and some actually participated," Gagan said.

Link

Updated On: 10/27/09 at 12:41 PM

[StageManager2]

Posted: 10/27/09 at 12:44pm

This is like that case here in New Bedford, MA, where that one woman was gang-raped on a pool table by bar patrons and no one reported it. Sick people!

[StockardFan]

Posted: 10/27/09 at 12:45pm

I heard about this earlier.......it's just awful. My heart breaks for this poor child.

[TheatreDiva90016]

Posted: 10/27/09 at 12:45pm

This is awful.

If she was walking out to meet her father, where was he?

And WHY would she decide it was a good idea to have a drink before getting picked up by her father?

[StockardFan]

Posted: 10/27/09 at 12:47pm

I guess the 15 year old mind doesn't think that logically, Diva...

[clever name]

Posted: 10/27/09 at 12:51pm

Is there any law that says you CAN NOT be a spectator at a gang rape? Can these sick f**cks be prosecuted? ugh.

[Eris0303]

Posted: 10/27/09 at 12:51pm

If she was walking out to meet her father, where was he?

I have to imagine he was on his way. I don't know this for sure but I figure she called him or they were meeting at a predesignated time/place. So he was either on his way or waiting in the car. Most teens prefer their parents wait in the car. I have this image of him sitting in the car and getting really mad at being kept waiting. And then to find out what had happened. My heart goes out to him and the mother as well.

From Taz's link:

"We have checked Facebook and YouTube to try to find any revealing evidence," he said. "We're looking in particular to see if anyone posted any video of the incident."

The thought that someone taped it to post on youtube/facebook might even be worse than people not reporting it.

[Eris0303]

Posted: 10/27/09 at 1:08pm

Is there any law that says you CAN NOT be a spectator at a gang rape? Can these sick f**cks be prosecuted? ugh.

I found this article and while it's not California it does show that witnesses can be held accountable for not reporting a crime. Every kid who stood in that circle and watched can be considered an accessory.
Police Consider Charges for not reporting domestic crime

[Yero my Hero]

Posted: 10/27/09 at 1:29pm

If anything, it's obstruction of justice, right? Or aiding and abeting.

[TheatreDiva90016]

Posted: 10/27/09 at 2:08pm

Yes, there is a law against standing by and not reporting a crime here in California. Everyone who stood by and did nothing can be charged.

"I have this image of him sitting in the car and getting really mad at being kept waiting. And then to find out what had happened."

That's just what I was thinking.

[ghostlight2]

Posted: 10/27/09 at 3:44pm

"This is like that case here in New Bedford, MA, where that one woman was gang-raped on a pool table by bar patrons and no one reported it. Sick people!"

Not to mention that poor woman eventually committed suicide.

"And WHY would she decide it was a good idea to have a drink before getting picked up by her father?"

I missed anything here that says she did (though there was a mention of checking her blood alcohol level), and even if she did, what, honestly, would that have to do with it? I'm with Stockard here. I imagine many on this board had a drink at 15. If she actually did, that's one hell of a high price to pay for making a bad choice.

[Magdalene]

Posted: 10/27/09 at 5:12pm

"Look outside the window, there's a woman being grabbed
they've dragged her to the bushes and now she's being stabbed
Maybe we should call the cops and try to stop the pain
But Monopoly is so much fun, I'd hate to blow the game"

Phil Ochs wrote a song (first lyric above) 30+ years ago about the apathy of people---we haven't come very far, have we?

[ghostlight2]

Posted: 10/27/09 at 5:36pm

Wonder if Ochs had Kitty Genovese in mind?
Kitty Genovese stabbing

[jasonf]

Posted: 10/27/09 at 5:41pm

I thought if you were present at a crime and did nothing to report it/help then you could be considered accessory to it. Maybe I'm wrong.

Either way - sick bastards all around. Why is castration not considered a viable punishment for rape? I wouldn't consider that cruel or unusual in the least...

[Eris0303]

Posted: 10/27/09 at 7:18pm

I thought if you were present at a crime and did nothing to report it/help then you could be considered accessory to it

They'll have to be considered accessories - especially since they believe it was filmed for entertainment purposes.

Why is castration not considered a viable punishment for rape?

Because rape isn't always to fulfill a sexual need. More often than not it's to fill a need for power and violence. Castration wouldn't help because the need to control and hurt is still there. They could still rape with an object or simply resort to murder.

Updated On: 10/27/09 at 07:18 PM

[sabrelady]

Posted: 10/27/09 at 11:45pm

ghost that was the 1st thing that came to my mind'

HEY I'm all right...

[shira467]

Posted: 10/28/09 at 12:57am

I may throw up. I'm speechless. I cannot comprehend such behavior, at all.

[BwayTday]

Posted: 10/28/09 at 1:16am

This is absolutely disgusting, my goodness.... I cannot even IMAGINE seeing something like that in plain sight, and just walking away! I heard that they some people even laughed, LAUGHED! Running away in terror, I can almost understand, but not reporting it? I do not understand, is there any explaination? I don't.... just don't know...

I would like to believe that some people were just afraid, or something. But for those people who joined, watched, encouraged, laughed? What has society come to...

[tazber]

Posted: 10/28/09 at 11:30am

"A 1999 California law makes it illegal not to report a witnessed crime against a child, but the law applies only to children 14 and younger."
One arrested so far

[snl89]

Posted: 10/28/09 at 11:40am

Sadly, isn't this just another case of the bystander effect? I mean that is just truly SICKENING if other people actually came in and JOINED this, but... it does happen, when there's a group of people around, that everyone just assumes someone else is calling for help so they don't. Although by now I'd hope enough people KNOW about the bystander effect to not DO that anymore, but.. it does happen


So, so awful though. That poor girl

[doodlenyc]

Posted: 10/28/09 at 12:07pm

Isnt this the plot for The Accused?

[Eris0303]

Posted: 10/28/09 at 12:10pm

Sadly, isn't this just another case of the bystander effect?

Not at all. The definition of the bystander effect is "a social psychological phenomenon in which individuals are less likely to offer help in an emergency situation when other people are present" (per wikipedia). A bystander is someone standing by and not doing anything. In this case bystanders ceased to be bystanders when they join in and/or filmed the attack. She was only found because someone overheard others "reminiscing about the incident" (per Taz's link). The bystander effect doesn't cover that at all and cannot be used here.

"As people announced over time that this was going on, more people came to see, and some actually participated," (also per Taz's link). They weren't just standing by doing nothing but spreading the news of what was happening so others could come watch/join.

[Magdalene]

Posted: 10/28/09 at 5:20pm

"Wonder if Ochs had Kitty Genovese in mind?"

Yes, I believe so. We've come so far in 35 years...

[TheatreDiva90016]

Posted: 10/28/09 at 6:48pm

"And WHY would she decide it was a good idea to have a drink before getting picked up by her father?"

"I missed anything here that says she did (though there was a mention of checking her blood alcohol level)"

It was in the article, ghost. Did you read it?

"Police said the girl left the dance and was walking to meet her father for a ride home when a classmate invited her to join a group drinking in the courtyard. The victim had drank a large amount of alcohol by the time the assault began, police said."

So, what kind of girl is going to go get drunk right before she's about to be picked up by her father?