02-24-2007, 01:39 PM
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Join Date: Nov 2001
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Woman jailed after reporting rape
(gg)
TAMPA, Florida (Reuters) - A woman who told police she
had been raped was taken to jail because of an
outstanding warrant and denied use of a morning-after
pill to prevent a potential pregnancy, the woman's
lawyer said on Tuesday.
The 21-year-old woman told police she was grabbed by a
man and raped on Saturday afternoon after she left a
parade.
After police officers took the woman, whose name was
not disclosed, to a health clinic they found she was
named in a warrant from a juvenile arrest in 2003 in
nearby Sarasota, police said.
The woman was put in handcuffs and taken to jail. She
was released on Monday afternoon.
The woman's attorney told reporters that while she was
in jail she was prevented from taking an emergency
contraceptive, the so-called morning after pill.
Tampa Police Chief Steve Hogue said in a statement
that he was revising the department's arrest policies
to give supervisors more discretion in similar
situations.
"When I learned that the victim of a sexual battery
was arrested on an outstanding warrant, I was very
concerned that our policy did not allow a greater
degree of discretionary latitude," Hogue said.
No arrest has been made for the rape but Hogue said
the investigation was continuing.
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.
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