Woman raped, jailed, deprived of contraception. Tampa.

[madfloridian]

http://www.myfoxtampabay.com/myfox/pages/Home/Detail?contentId=2212387&version=3&locale=EN-US&layoutCode=TSTY&pageId=1.1.1

"TAMPA - A young woman was walking back to her car after the Gasparilla parade on Saturday when she says a man dragged her behind a building and raped her near the intersection of Howard and Swann. She managed to get away and called 911. Police took her to the hospital and began a routine rape investigation.

When they started checking the victim's background, they discovered she had an arrest warrant out for her. It was from an arrest when the woman was a juvenile and she was accused of not paying restitution. The woman says she was not aware there was a warrant out for her, and her attorney says it appears to be a paperwork error.

..."Still, the woman was put in handcuffs and taken to jail. She was not allowed bond, and the medical staff at the jail refused to give her the Morning After Pill even though it had been prescribed at the hospital.

"The medical supervisor would not allow her to take the pill because she said it was against her, the supervisor's, religion. So, here we have a medical supervisor imposing her beliefs on a rape victim," claimed the victim's attorney Virlyn Moore. "As a human being, how someone could be so violated by this monster and then the system comes along and rapes her again psychologically and emotionally - it's outrageous and unconscionable."

This is an outrage. I saw it on the news, but I needed a link.

[Erika]

1. W's push for theocracy

Dobson is smiling.

[madfloridian]

2. The officials interviewed on the news were so casual.

The people they interviewed were irate. One officer said well we might need a change in policy. You think?

[Erika]

3. Yeah, they just might need a change of policy

The right wing sickos.

[madfloridian]

4. I had just posted about St Pete police cutting the tents of the homeless.

http://journals.democraticunderground.com/madfloridian/987

So I guess since St Pete and Tampa are sort of close together, and not far from my freaky fundy area.....yeh they need to change. Southern Baptist dominate completely here.

It needs attention, and it needs to stop.

[jpgray]

5. It's sad that it may take something as tragic as this to change this horrific policy

This had damn well better be the -last- injustice of its kind.

[Verde]

6. Hell, they probably hire Christian Science members as Dr's & Nurses to save money

on healthcare. "I'm Mary Baker Eddy and I'll be taking care of that broken arm for you today."

These sort of stories make me ill.



from Wiki: The basis of Christian Science healing is the view that 'man' (i.e. the male/female spiritual being who appears as an individual human being) is the reflection or expression of a wholly good and perfect God, and therefore is perfect. Christian Scientists believe that God loves every individual, because God is the Creator of all. Christian Scientists also believe that sickness is the result of either fear, ignorance, or sin, and that when the erroneous belief is corrected, the sickness will disappear. They state that the way to eliminate the false beliefs is to replace them with true understanding of God's goodness. They consider that suffering can occur only when one believes in the supposed reality of a problem; if one changes one's understanding, then belief is revealed as false, and the acknowledgement that the sickness has no power since God is the only power, eliminates the sickness.

Christian Scientists regard the material world as a kind of consensual illusion which is due to a misperception of the true spiritual world. Such a misperception can, they believe, be changed by reorientation of thought, or prayer in Christian Science terms, whereby the illusion can be dispelled, resulting in healing. They believe that eventually the spiritual realm will appear in its true glory as indicated in Chapter 21 of the Book of Revelation.

[dEMOK]

7. Welcome to the "No World Order"... nt

[Mick Knox]

8. This doesn't suprise me at all

Meds are routinely refused in County. Even if your doc prescribes them, unless their nurse/whatever approves them, you probably wont get them.

If they had their way, the showers wouldnt be converted into another type of shower.

[Kagemusha]

9. A medical supervisor working for a state government?

What room is there for personal beliefs regarding a prisoner in the legal care of the state?

This isn't going to just blow over. It's not at all like someone in private practice refusing on religious grounds. Not one tiny bit.

[madfloridian]

10. I never ask for recommends....but this needs serious attention.

I was signing off for the night when I found the link finally. Florida's police state attitude with all the privatized prisons, needs attention.

[Cerridwen]

11. K & R only...you don't want to hear the words in my head

right now. Trust me.

[madfloridian]

12. Nor mine. I am too angry to think straight right now.

:mad:

[Cerridwen]

14. Any contact info or names you can provide for those of us

not familiar with this area?

[madfloridian]

43. Armor Correctional Health Services handles medical care..

I just saw it in the St Pete Times. They were not answering their phones Monday. Or not open. Florida has been so privatized with no oversight that anything is possible.

I don't know the company, but call the mayor's office in Tampa, or the legislators or congressmen. I am going to make some calls today.

[momster]

44. The Daily Kos Diary

has contact info for county and the company that provides the 'prisoner services' for that jail. Armor Correctional Services, Inc. maybe?

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

28. Try me.

Uh, well, maybe the mods won't be as understanding as me, so feel free not to.

[ncrainbowgrrl]

63. Oh... I think that I have similar words.

Unfortunately, should I post them, I'd probably have to have to remove my own post... Or at least alert on it and waste the time of another moderator.

:grr:

[yardwork]

79. And I'd be right there with you!

[Nutmegger]

13. Jezus H Christ what is going on in America?

Kicked and recommended.

[TZ]

24. see Iran's revolution after they took the hostages...

when they became a true theocracy. That's whats happening in this country. Wait till they spin it that somehow it was this woman's fault that she got raped...

[nosmokes]

15. K&R an outrage.

the world is full of them these days like never before. damn. pooor woman.

[Solly Mack]

16. Some days I hate with a passion that's purple

[DarkTirade]

17. I'm sure my roommate would just LOVE to hear about what's going on in his hometown...

Can't imagine why he left it...

[Katherine Brengle]

18. That is so f*cked... I don't even know what to say.

[dsc]

19. This is unacceptable

This is wholly unlike pharmacies where you have a choice to go to another. The woman should be fired and that is that.

[Catfight]

20. I'm surprised they didn't stone her to death. It is florida after all. nt

[theHandpuppet]

21. Kicking just because

I'm damned sick and tired of the RW fundie nutballs who have stolen this democracy and are determined to shove their bornagain brand of fascism down everyone's throats.

:grr:

[Jokerman]

22. THIS CANNOT BE ALLOWED.

Sorry for the caps but this seriously pisses me off.

This women, in custody, was denied prescribed medication because some puny brained ass used her power to force her religious beliefs on some one else.

It's time to demand that anyone willing to do this kind of thing be deprived of the power to do so.

[Tesha]

23. This sort of stuff goes on, all around the country, every day.

This sort of stuff goes on, all around the country, every day.
Prisoners in America are routinely denied appropriate medical
care.

It's just the way we do things here in the World's Greatest
Democracy(tm).

Tesha

[druidity33]

70. remember LaLa's aunt?

And her INS/DHS fiasco? Refused her her heart medication for like 2 months! Without any system of accountability, i'm afraid these abuses will continue...

:(

[wicket]

25. Absolutely horrible

And infuriating

:grr: :grr: :grr:

[ThomCat]

26. This needs to be in every paper and on every channel.

I feel guilty advocating that, knowing that it would be hell on this woman, but we need to publicize what that medical supervisor did and what's happening to people's rights.
:cry:

We need an uproar. We need people to be angry about this.
x(

[The Traveler]

27. Time for tar and feathers

Want to fight this kind of stuff? Find the lowest level elected official in the chain of command over the goons who did this, especially the theocratic thug (medical supervisor), and make it clear they will be targeted for massive grass roots political action unless these assholes are fired, fined, suspended without pay or otherwise financially punished.

As for the theocrat medical supervisor, she must be fired. Her religious beliefs make it impossible for her to do her job. If one is by religious conviction a pacifist, then one should not join the Marines, for the job description includes things that contradict your religious convictions. This is the same kind of thing. Dereliction of clearly defined duties cannot be justified on religious grounds ... get another job.

[Auggie]

29. Lawsuit! Money talks!

[GenDem]

48. Agree, she needs a good trial lawyer

and I'm sure there are many out there that would love to jump on this one.

[slj0101]

30. What if giving food or other medical aid were "against their religion"?

Wouldn't that constitute some sort of crime?
:grr: These people.

[AllegroRondo]

31. For some religions, it is

The Christian Scientist Church, for example, believes that ANY medical aid is against their religion, and only prayer can be used. I've often wondered what would happen if someone of that faith became a pharmacist and refused to dispense any medicine to anyone....

[AllegroRondo]

32. so if she is pregnant, can she sue the medical supervisor for support?

it was the supervisors direct action (or non-action) that caused it.

[Heywood J]

33. She needs to sue - badly

The supervisor should be stuck with the kid, for the next twenty-plus years. That is, if I didn't fear that being raised by such a person would fuck the kid up badly... I don't recall any "conscientious jail supervisor" laws being passed recently, and this was a must-have prescription. Aside from that, since when is a juvie violation for "not paying restitution" grounds for remanding a rape victim?

Here's to hoping the presiding judge on that warrant and the supervisor have retirement nest-eggs. They'll need it to pay off the settlement fees. Sounds like the whole system, from stem to stern, needs to be audited and to have the deadwood purged. The supervisor can go fuck herself.

[rockymountaindem]

34. Disgusting

This is, aside from the bombing of abortion clinics, a new low.

[Pithlet]

35. This is just like the pharmacists who want to impose their beliefs on others.

It's even more egregious as she was being held and had no other options immediately available, but it's a difference of degree, not kind. If people are against dispensing certain medications, particularly ones safely and routinely prescribed by doctors, because of their religious beliefs, then they need to find another line of work, period. They don't have the "right" to impose their beliefs on others, anywhere.

[John Q. Citizen]

65. It's worse.

[Pithlet]

67. I agree.

But there are those who defend the pharmacies who will say, and have indeed already said, that this is different. It isn't different at all. It's a worse case scenario, but it's the same kind of scenario as the woman who's been denied by the only pharmacy in town and has no means to get to another one in time for the Plan B to work. I was pointing out that it is a difference in degree, not a difference in kind. It is the defense of those pharmacists that lead to cases like the ones in the OP. If the right to withhold a prescribed medicine due to religious beliefs is legitimized anywhere, then it leads to the worse case scenarios like the one we're discussing. This was an employee of a private corporation, after all.

[SammyWinstonJack]

36. Land of the Free, Home of the Brave.

:puke:

[Zenlitened]

37. That "medical supervisor" is an accessory to rape. - n/t

[Irishonly]

38. I Am So Angry

Pardon my poor memory but I wrote the the pharmacy board when the last thread about a refusal to give the morning after pill. Guess what?? I haven't heard from them.

It is ridiculous that the medical profession gets to cry convictions and not do their job. I am so tired of wing nuts telling me how I should live my life and what my morals should be. They should get out of the profession. When does it stop?

[Veronica.Franco]

39. The people in power got a kick out of "teaching her a lesson"

They found someone weaker and helpless and hurt and they got off of jerking her around ... there is no other excuse for this behavior ...

She needs to SUE them until she owns the entire town ...

[femrap]

40. The only war that is going in W's favor is the.....

WAR ON WOMEN!

From the day this assh*le took office, he and the neocons have been nonstop in their efforts to eliminate all advances women have made over the past 40 years.

Check out the National Women's Law Center....this organization keeps track of what this regime has been doing. And of course the MSM doesn't report any of this.

[madfloridian]

41. St Pete Times covers it also. I cried when I saw it on the local news, but needed link to post.

More from the St. Pete Times

http://www.sptimes.com/2007/01/30/Tampabay/Police_jail_rape_vict.shtml

"A doctor had given her Plan B, the so-called "morning-after pill" approved by the FDA, to prevent pregnancy. But Moore said a medical supervisor at the jail refused to let her take the second of the two pills on Sunday.

For the emergency contraceptive to work, the first pill must be taken within three days of unprotected sex and the second 12 hours after the first. The woman had already taken the first pill soon after the assault Saturday, Moore said. She was unable to take the second pill until Monday afternoon. The jail allowed it, he said, after media inquiries.

Debbie Carter, a spokeswoman for the Sheriff's Office, which runs the jail, said she couldn't comment on the situation because medical information is private. But she said medical service policies are set by Armor Correctional Health Services, which contracts with the jail.

Armor's corporate offices were closed late Monday when the St. Petersburg Times tried to reach a spokesperson.

Our whole state is undergoing terrible times with jails being the first place they put someone no matter what...mentally ill, just plain ill physically. And the medicat services are privatized out with corporate offices inaccessible to the media on a Monday.

I was furious and embarrassed when I saw this on the news.

[Pithlet]

42. Why was the victim's background even checked?

Is that standard procedure to check the criminal background of rape victims, or any victims of crime for that matter? If I call the police to report a break in, do I have to hope there isn't some paperwork issue from my past that I'm not aware of, and pray I'm not carted off to jail myself? The whole thing is just beyond ridiculous. Something tells me they don't check the backgrounds for all victims of every crime. The story is an outrage even without the birth control aspect of it. She shouldn't have been in jail to begin with. They could have waited until she was finished being treated before they hauled her to jail.

[Joe Chi Minh]

78. A very telling point. It's the stuff of nightmares. Apparently, the alternative for

the weenies in your police force to lynching or turning the other way.

Heck, that was going on OVERTLY just fifty years ago, wasn't it? I've read that some of the "police" in the Abysmal South frame African-Americans on Murder One charges, and they are then executed, irrespective of indisputable evidence of innocence. I hope someone can tell me I'm wrong.

The Chinese know how to deal with these scum. They don't baulk at putting a pistol to the head of white-collar fraudsters. And that's just over money.

[stonecoldsober]

45. Sad, sick motherfuckers

[mondo joe]

46. How can it be legal to deny someone access to their prescribed medication

while in custody?

:puke:

[madfloridian]

49. It happens in Florida a lot in the jail system. Mentally ill are just left there.

There are a lot of articles at www.theledger.com about the how the jails are being used to dump the mentally ill instead of getting medical care for them. If you do a search under Lucy Hadi, the DCF director, you will find a lot.

I don't have time right now, but the whole thing is out of control here.

[electprogdems]

47. i just posted this above

i didn't see your post. I am physically ill after reading about this. What is wrong with this country and the people in it, that tax cuts are more important that the fact a canidate wants religious rule and the government to rule over my body and my daughters body.

[glitch]

50. It sounds like shehas an excellent attorney, a true fighter. Get them Virlyn Moore.

Wipe the complacency off their souls.

[madfloridian]

51. BayNew9 TV said Mayor Pam Iorio is investigating.

http://www.tampagov.net/dept_Mayor/

[John Q. Citizen]

71. This from Wikipedia on Mayor Pam Iorio.

Pam Iorio (born April 27, 1959 in Waterville, Maine) is the 57th and current (as of 2006) mayor of Tampa, Florida. She moved with her family to Temple Terrace as an infant.

She was sworn in on April 1, 2003, succeeding Dick A. Greco. Her campaign was notable in that she decided to run for mayor fairly late, yet still managed to win by a 2-to-1 margin over her opponent. Iorio's administration was seen as breaking down the good ol' boy system that was in place for years; as the second female mayor of the city, she hired many more minorities and women for staff positions than her male predecessors.

Her platform deals largely with renovating the downtown area, as well as creating economic confidence for poorer citizens of the city. Iorio is also a big supporter of the arts, and she wishes to make Tampa a major arts center in the South. Iorio has also been credited with a sharp drop in drug trafficking in the city limits.

In 1985, at the age of 26, she became the youngest person ever elected to the Hillsborough County Commission. For a decade before her successful run for mayor, she served as Supervisor of Elections for Hillsborough County. During the 2000 presidential election recount, she was the president of the State Association of County Elections Supervisors.

She's a registered Democrat

[nam78_two]

52. K&R-these religious nuts should never be in a position

to dispense meds :grr:...

[Beaverhausen]

53. This is insane

This poor woman is now twice victimized.

And people wonder why so few women bother to report being raped.

[ima_sinnic]

54. thank god/goddess/whatever that I am LEAVING this hateful state SOON

Florida is a breeding ground for whacko a-holes, greedy developers, carpetbaggers, grifters, incompetents, and criminals. On April 1st I will be back in the Maine woods!! and not a moment too soon. I am SOOOO tired of strip malls and overdevelopment, not to mention the fundy a-holes that come around every Saturday disturbing people in their homes with their drivel and tracts.

[Lawrence]

55. I live in florida

please oh god give me the chance to vote away the law protecting these monsters

[madfloridian]

56. Contact info and website for Armor Correctional...

http://armorcorrectional.com/

[Seldona]

57. This happened to me.

I was in jail in Volusia County Florida once and was laughed at when I requested treatment for the pneumonia I picked up while there. I almost DIED while in county jail from a totally treatable illness, so this doesn't surprise me in the slightest.

I hope she has the money to sue. I would think she has a open and shut case.

I support everyone's right to worship as they see fit. However those rights also come with responsibility, as does taking a JOB. If I were her supervisor I would say she has deliberately failed to do her job and fire her immediately. At the very least that supervisor had a responsibility to see that this patient got her medications one way or the other. Period. End of story.

[never cry wolf]

58. Words escape me, K&R.... n/t

[Cass]

59. A government employee denying medication based on religious beliefs should not be tolerated.

That supervisor should be fired for this. These religious people have no right to force their religion down everyone's throat like this. Despite what these religiously insane people think, we do not live in a theocracy. My heart goes to this young woman. I hope she will be okay and I hope she sues the pants off these people.

[Maddy McCall]

60. I hope she sues the City of Tampa into oblivion.

What fucking bastards. May hell on earth visit the medical supervisor's life every day forward.

[madfloridian]

61. They arrested her while she was helping them look for the rapist. Pre med student.

They arrested her while she was in the police car in the front seat, helping them look for the rapist. She's a pre med student.

http://www.jacksonville.com/apnews/stories/013007/D8MVNPBG0.shtml

"The premed student was in Tampa on Saturday afternoon for Gasparilla, a pirate-themed parade that draws thousands of revelers to the city's waterfront each year. She said she was walking alone to her car when a man pulled her behind a downtown building and raped her, McElroy said.

She reported the rape to police at 3:30 p.m. Responding officers took her to a rape crisis center, where she was given a medical exam and the first of two doses of a morning-after pill, McElroy said. The second dose is supposed to be taken within 24 hours.

She was riding in a patrol car trying to locate the crime scene in the dark when a police check revealed an outstanding warrant. She was arrested around 8:50 p.m.

"They stopped the investigation right there," Moore said. "She was riding in the front of the patrol car. They put her in handcuffs and put her in the back."

[Lone_Star_Dem]

64. Because it's much more important to arrest her on an old non-violent warrant

Than to get a rapist off the street. How's that for logic?

[Seldona]

69. Unbelievable.

"They stopped the investigation right there," Moore said. "She was riding in the front of the patrol car. They put her in handcuffs and put her in the back."

:wow:

[Tsiyu]

76. Tampa cops are pure cowards and a waste of tax money

Yeah, those are some real badass cops there.

Pre-med students and rape victims are quaking in their boots, but the rapists and other violent criminals obviously know the cops are cowards in Tampa and no doubt laugh their asses off at them.


Who could ever be intimidated by a cop who would rather waste his working hours playing around with an ancient warrant than going after a violent criminal? Will it matter to these fucked up cops if this rapist they let go rapes THEIR daughters? Probably not, the more I think about it.

Easier to get back to the jailhouse for some doughnuts and Co-cola than to actually PROTECT THE CITIZENS OF TAMPA AS YOU ARE PAID TO DO!!!!!! :grr:

[mzmolly]

62. OMG

Wrong on so many levels.

"As a human being, how someone could be so violated by this monster and then the system comes along and rapes her again psychologically and emotionally - it's outrageous and unconscionable."

This story is almost difficult to believe. :(

[Hidden Stillness]

66. Don't Lose the Point--ALL Treatment of Rape Victims is Still Horrific

I have been reading a few of the links to news stories on this thread, and from beginning to end, this case is an outrage, frightening. It is not, however, new. For some odd reason, people always want to jump on these things and work it into an unrelated attack on Christians--or for God's sake, Christian Scientists have been dragged in here...??--but this is actually typical treatment for women victims of male violence, whether rape or battering, whether anybody likes it or not. This whole case was a merciless cruelty to this woman, and they actually stopped the investigation of the rape, once they focused on her, and the failure to pay restitution, which may even have been a "clerical error," which then raises the question of whether they invented the ruse intentionally, just to torture a woman.

There was a recent case in Canada, (I live in Michigan, and follow CBC news, because it is so much better than "U.S." corporate), where a young woman reported a rape, (I can't remember if she was the victim or a witness), it was discovered that she was there on an expired Visa I think it was, and she was deported! That of course ended the investigation. There is the ongoing Canadian case of a male with a pig farm, who had abducted, tortured and murdered 49 women who were prostitutes, the police ignored and ridiculed the victims and their advocates for many, many years, and only discovered the crime accidentally, while investigating something else. They were never going to follow up on this crime. There was a case I remember from about ten years ago, either South Carolina or West Virginia, where a husband was charged with tying up the wife, raping and torturing her, and it was on video, shown during the trial. The rapist abuser actually said, "How can a man rape his own wife?" and was found NOT GUILTY! There was a rapist I read about some years ago, who actually developed a conscience about it, and began to help prison authorities with rapist/anger management courses, to make them feel something for their victims and face what they had done. Talking about the person's own rapes and treatment by (male) police, this rapist, who knew that the crimes had happened and that the victims were telling the truth, described how the women were always treated as liars, and, said the rapist who lied to police, "I couldn't believe it. They believed everything that I said." Remember the recent case of the law student in New York who celebrated graduating from law school by going to bars with friends, who was raped, tortured and murdered, and the media's only "concern"? "Was she a slut? Should women go out to bars at night alone?"

Still to this day, crimes by males against women are not treated as anything serious, they are ignored for as long as possible, and the victims are regularly treated with hate, and not believed. Police and prosecutors regularly screw up the investigations of these cases, so they cannot be prosecuted. Things have not changed, the way some people apparently believe they have. It is still Hell for the women victims, from beginning to end. After all, everyone must be aware of how they still rip the victim to shreds for days on end in the courtroom, just as a "winning tactic."

[Lucky Luciano]

68. Flabbergasted

Aghast. Shocked and dismayed, but overall ultra-angry....

:mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad:
:grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr:
:nuke: :nuke: :nuke: :nuke: :nuke: :nuke: :nuke: :nuke: :nuke: :nuke: :nuke: :nuke: :nuke: :nuke: :nuke: :nuke: :nuke: :nuke: :nuke:

[The Doctor.]

72. The medical supervisor should pay any child support

the woman may need.

Fucking asshole.

If this woman were my wife the medical supervisor would be on my list just under the rapist.

[meow mix]

73. law suits!! i hope that supervisor loses everything, is fired, and becomes homeless

at which point she gets raped, arrested for vagrancy and denied birth control.

[TheFarseer]

74. That's freaking crazy

I sure hope she won't bitch about the kid when he's sucking up tax payer money in some way - which he probably will not having a family and all - and please don't bitch when he steals your car stereo because he doesn't know much else because his parents are in freaking jail and all. Lady, we're not talking about a abortion in the 9th month for Christ Sakes! People who are against contraception scare me.

[Bjorn Against]

75. I hope she sues that supervisor as well as the police department

There needs to be consequences when people in authority abuse their power like this, I hope the department has to pay out big bucks.

[madfloridian]

77. Her mother was on TV tonight...

She is one pissed off lady. She is intelligent and attractive, and I think she will pursue this.

Her daughter's face was shown only blurred, but once the mother's face was shown without.

The daughter looks to be very lovely. A pre-med student.

[kikiek]

80. I am livid over this. Please keep us posted. I wish it would go national.

[madfloridian]

82. It is going national. I posted this elsewhere.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=85335&mesg_id=85335

[kikiek]

88. Thanks for posting it all.

[madfloridian]

83. Duplicate.

[Crunchy Frog]

81. Hate to say this,

but :wtf: is wrong with your state? What the hell are they doing even running criminal background checks of women who report being raped? Sounds like if you get raped in Florida, you're better off not even reporting it, or that they at least want women to feel that way.

I almost wonder if they were looking for something on purpose, just so they could prevent her from taking taking the pill. I don't think any possibility is too outrageous for those fundy nutcases.:grr:

[sonias]

84. You go that right Crunchy Frog

How in the hell does the state even start running a criminal background check on a rape victim? When did that become standard procedure? All women in Florida should be wary of these policies.

I sure hope that NOW and other women's groups get into this case and sue the hell out of this department on behalf of this woman and all women and their families.

:grr::grr::grr:

Sonia

[LisaPeaceful]

85. OMG this is horrible. What has happened to the state I grew up in.

This native Floridian is completely disgusted and ANGRY!

[jsamuel]

87. I grew up in Tampa. It is an unusual place. So much poverty and so many riches.

[HooptieWagon]

86. A couple of points

I'm not a lawyer... but the health care at the jail was run by a private company, so I'm not sure what degree of liability the City of Tampa has, unless they were aware of prior instances of refusing health care by the supervisor. Certainly wouldn't hurt to sue the city in addition to the health care company. A good attorney may get the city to settle rather than try and defend an embarrassing lawsuit. And the city probably can't demand the supervisor be fired, but they can certainly demand she be relocated to a facility outside Tampa.

Second, its been reported here that the victim was held without bail for 2 whole days, before her attorney secured her release. WTF???

The warrant was possibly an error, the victim's attorney said the woman had already made the restitution. That certainly seems to be grounds for another lawsuit, in that the state was negligent in record keeping, and caused the victim duress, pain and suffering.

It appears the woman is being capibly represented, but if not, there will be a whole slew of cappable attonies willing to take her on as a client. The actions of many deep pockets appear to have been highly negligent. And what jury wouldn't side with the victim?

BTW, been reported the victim is from Sarasota Co., her attorney is from Venice (southern Sarasota Co.)

[Erika]

90. We just sent a message to the mayor's office

about detaining a rape victim with no rape drugs, and that we will contribute to her legal fund.

The City IS responsible for liability of its subs. Even more, the City will be socked for tourism cancelations.

It's about time that we stood against municipal employers, completely tax-supported, subbing out to inferior contractors. If you've had enough, please also send the mayor a message.

[maggiegault]

91. Hell, I Can Go You One Better

I just emailed the mayor's office and told him that I will personally pay for her abortion, should she decide to have one.

[John Q. Citizen]

93. The Mayor is a woman and a Democrat. I wrote her a letter also,

and suggested it's time to clean house on the criminal justice system in the city.


From Wikipedia

Pam Iorio (born April 27, 1959 in Waterville, Maine) is the 57th and current (as of 2006) mayor of Tampa, Florida. She moved with her family to Temple Terrace as an infant.

She was sworn in on April 1, 2003, succeeding Dick A. Greco. Her campaign was notable in that she decided to run for mayor fairly late, yet still managed to win by a 2-to-1 margin over her opponent. Iorio's administration was seen as breaking down the good ol' boy system that was in place for years; as the second female mayor of the city, she hired many more minorities and women for staff positions than her male predecessors.

Her platform deals largely with renovating the downtown area, as well as creating economic confidence for poorer citizens of the city. Iorio is also a big supporter of the arts, and she wishes to make Tampa a major arts center in the South. Iorio has also been credited with a sharp drop in drug trafficking in the city limits.

In 1985, at the age of 26, she became the youngest person ever elected to the Hillsborough County Commission. For a decade before her successful run for mayor, she served as Supervisor of Elections for Hillsborough County. During the 2000 presidential election recount, she was the president of the State Association of County Elections Supervisors.

She's a registered Democrat

[maggiegault]

92. It Happened On The Cops' Watch

And cops hate this kind of publicity. I just shot an email to them expressing my outrage, along with my plans to pay for this woman's abortion, if she needs one, should she opt to have one.

http://www.tampagov.net/appl_customer_service_center/form.asp?strServiceID=67&id=67

[Erika]

94. I also sent them an email

Offering my $ to a fund to sue them for their theocratic views.

[Downtown Hound]

89. Gawd bless America.