Nebraska cops waited a year to press charges in rape case — in spite of witnesses and DNA evidence

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Raw Story

Nebraska cops waited a year to press charges in rape case — in spite of witnesses and DNA evidence
David Ferguson
08 Nov 2015 at 19:03 ET

Omaha, Nebraska authorities are under scrutiny for the prosecution of a rape case in which an unconscious 16-year-old girl was sexually assaulted by multiple attackers and photos of the incident were distributed on social media.

According to the Omaha World Herald, the Omaha Police Department bungled the investigation into the rape and failed to bring charges against any perpetrators until a year after the crime, in spite of the presence of eyewitnesses and the availability of DNA evidence.

The girl — called “Anna” by the World Herald — was drugged and raped at a party of a February night in 2014. She was dumped off at her parents’ home in the early hours of Sunday morning, February 16. She had been serially raped, penetrated vaginally and anally, beaten, bitten and urinated on. Her eyes had been blackened and her face was so swollen she was almost unrecognizable.

Anna’s mother took her to Methodist Hospital where she underwent a five-hour rape exam. A clinical examination found five separate tears to Anna’s vaginal tissue and another tear to her rectum. Her clothes and skin were carefully examined for evidence and she was asked to recount what she could remember of the night again and again.


Read more: http://www.rawstory.com/2015/11/nebraska-cops-waited-a-year-to-press-charges-in-rape-case-in-spite-of-witnesses-and-dna-evidence/

[trumad]

1. Read about this earlier...

I've read some pretty F'ed up shit in my life and this rates right up there.

[StrayKat]

2. This is really sick. n/t

[Sienna86]

3. Horrific story of brutality to a kid.

Something is wrong in a police department that would allow this bungling of a case to occur.

[thucythucy]

4. Horrible.

Simply horrible.

[houston16revival]

5. Very sick case indeed

When citizens don't like what their kids are taught in school, they go to the
teachers, or become active in school board elections, or band together for
political activity.

When voters don't like politicians' agenda, they vote (unless they're being
excluded by voter suppression).

When citizens are victims of police incompetence, where can they turn?
The press, ok, they might help. Some cities have citizen-police commissions,
don't they? My sense is they are somewhat rare, especially outside major
cities.

When cases like this are bungled citizens should have some place to turn to
in pursuing justice. Better yet it should not happen in the first place. The linked
article accepts 'ownership' of the delay. But are there consequences? Apologies
just aren't enough. I would think lawsuits will result.

Taxpayers are going to get tired of paying to settle lawsuits.

[Kelvin Mace]

6. I doubt she will get anything in a lawsuit

since the police are generally immune to civil action for their failure to do their job. Back in the late 80s we had the local police responding to a shooter and they actually routed people directly into the shooter's path resulting in several death and injuries. The state Supreme Court ruled the police have no actual obligation to "protect" citizens from harm.

[Brickbat]

7. I would have liked the OWH article -- and this one, for that matter -- much better if it had dug

into the police department work with as much relish as it recounted the crimes.

[niyad]

8. somebody needs to look into those cops' histories--would almost guarantee that they

are also rapists.

[Judi Lynn]

9. World-Herald: Eyewitnesses, DNA evidence in girl's rape — yet it took nearly a year for arrests to b

Eyewitnesses, DNA evidence in girl's rape — yet it took nearly a year for arrests to be made
Posted: Sunday, November 8, 2015 1:00 am | Updated: 12:01 pm, Mon Nov 9, 2015.

By Todd Cooper / World-Herald staff writer

The father paced the main floor of his South Omaha home, frantic as he looked out his front window at the passing cars.

That Sunday morning, he had checked his then-16-year-old daughter’s bedroom to find her gone. He called her phone, over and over, only to have it go straight to voice mail.

Heart racing, he called his wife at work. She also hadn’t heard from their daughter.

Anna was nowhere to be found.

Then he saw a red car pass slowly.

Moments later, it pulled around the corner, as if it had circled the block. It stopped briefly just past Anna’s house, four people inside.

More:
http://www.omaha.com/news/crime/eyewitnesses-dna-evidence-in-girl-s-rape-yet-it-took/article_d761f278-d559-559d-9636-0461d72d4eac.html