Police in southeast Ohio are investigating a rape that was
apparently filmed by passersby and posted on social media.
An Ohio University student told police Sunday that she’d
been sexually assaulted after she had been drinking the previous night sometime
between 1 a.m. and 6 a.m.
She filed the complaint after a video showing a man
performing oral sex on her on a sidewalk in Uptown Athens had been posted to
Instagram and screen shots of the video were circulated on Twitter, reported
The (Athens) Post.
A university official said she was troubled by “some
victim-blaming behavior” on social media, and police said they were concerned
that someone recorded the incident and at least one bystander witnessed the
apparent sexual assault and did not intervene.
“What is more disturbing are the social implications of what
it means for someone to have been standing there watching this thing happen,
videotaping it with their phone instead of getting involved and trying to help
the victim,” said the campus police chief, Andrew Powers.
The images show a woman pressed against the window of Chase
Bank on Court Street with a man kneeling in front of her, with his hands near
her genitals.
The 20-year-old woman told police she didn’t know the man,
who police said they had identified and has so far cooperated with their
investigation.
He has not yet been charged, although police are
investigating the case as a felony rape, which carries a possible 11-year
prison term.
Police haven’t decided whether anyone who posted or
circulated the images on social media would be charged in connection with the
case, and investigators said they didn’t think any nearby surveillance cameras
captured the incident.
The university’s Office of Community Standards and Student
Responsibility will likely conduct its own investigation of the incident.
Those with information on this case are advised to call
Crime Solvers Anonymous at 740-594-3331 or the Athens Police Department at
740-592-3313.
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