— By Kevin Montgomery (@kevinmonty) |
Our pal Brittney Gilbert was sexually assaulted on Muni the other day. She was on her way to work and when she went to get off a bus, an extremely-drunk-but-not-homeless man grabbed her crotch. The experience sounds horribly traumatic, so that alone makes me feel sick. But after she got off the bus, slammed a glass of wine, had a good cry and was comforted by her friends and co-workers, she was urged to go to the police and report the crime. As Brittney noted, “these crimes are grossly underreported and even one more record of this kind of assault might mean more police presence in the future.”
However, when she got the police station at 6th and Bryant to report the crime, the response not only unhelpful, but absolutely unfitting for someone paid to “serve and protect” the residents of our city:
“Okay. What do you want to do? File a report?” [The officer's] tone made his words sound more like, “Are you serious? You came all the way down here for this?”
“Yes,” I told him. Yes, I wanted to file a report.
He asked for more information. I gave it to him. He told me to wait. Then he came out and spoke with me face to face.“We have two options here. We have a Muni task force. We can give them this info and they can be on the lookout for this guy. Or you can file a full report, but it won't do anything.”
He made sure to tell me this guy wouldn't be caught even if I filed a report. For a moment I hedged. For a split second I considered not filing a report. He nearly convinced me. Then I remembered what I came there to do.“I realize this guy probably won't be caught, but this crime is underreported and I want to do my due diligence and make sure this one is. And if it means more police presence later, then even better.” He did not agree with me; he said nothing. The amount of sympathy he managed could fit into a thimble.
I waited more. While waiting with no where to sit for many minutes I considered the infirm or pregnant or elderly women who would be very physically uncomfortable waiting to file a similar report. With nothing to be said of the emotional discomfort.Finally I was given a slip of paper with my case number on it. I was told that usually sexual battery requires “skin on skin contact,” but that that was how my case would be labeled. He told me I could follow the case online.
I initiated a hand shake. He finally, finally mustered that he was sorry this happened. He told me to be careful. It sounded a lot like, “don't let this happen to you again.”
You can read the entire tale on Brittney's blog.
Comments (14)
we pay these fucking cops a six figure salary and yet they cant be bothered to do their fucking jobs? that’s bullcrap. and fuck Muni for not fixing their fucking cameras so we can catch SOBs like this jerk who assaults women on the bus. Maybe we need to just have volunteers on board with bats to beat the shit out of scum like him since the cops could give a fuck
So, blame the cops and MUNI And the homeless drunk man is blameless? Think about the City Hall policies that allow this untreated man on the streets among the public, including kids and homeless families.
Another example of Compstat changing the definition of police:
http://www.sf-police.org/index.aspx?page=3254
https://improvingpolice.wordpress.com/tag/new-york/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CompStat#Critique
This is horrifying. On all fronts. At least the cop could have been sympathetic.
Cops are mostly pricks - I dont think they mean to be, but they deal with so much human garbage every minute of their workday it just sort of happens over time.
Sorry to hear that cops are hardened to the reality of their chosen career. I feel the same way about alphabetizing bullshit for assholes but I don’t get paid if I tell the people that I alphabetize for that they are assholes.
Isn’t there a camera on the bus that MIGHT be functioning? There could be evidence there to capture the person or at least help identify them.
If men were groped routinely like this there would be a phalanx of Republicans calling for the National Guard to protect all the delicate cocks of America.
This sucks and not only am I glad your friend reported it to the police I’m glad she agreed to let you post about it.
I was assaulted on a Muni bus years ago and am sorry to say I never even thought of reporting it. A man who was sitting next to me by the back door of the 38 Geary waited till the bus stopped to reach over and grab my breast and then run out into the street making lewd faces at me with his tongue. This was in 1990. I am very sorry to hear that things have not improved over the years. I should mention that this was the worst incident, not the only incident of groping that I experienced while on Muni.
we need hobo with a shotgun for real
If you want safe and tidy, go back to whatever small town you’re from, or the Marina.
We need bus bouncers.
The SFPD Tweets its regrets:
https://twitter.com/SFPD/status/246034938758049793
The experience received by this victim is not to the level of service we at the SFPD are known for. This issue will be addressed accordingly
when was the last time anyone actually saw a member of SFPD on Muni?
cops are gropers too!
I hate to say this, but what if it happened at 1015, or Ruby Skye? Or any other club? I know it is distasteful, and the dude perpetrating deserves a swift kick in the nuts, but what are the po-po supposed to do about it?
This happens in every club and every underground I go to. In most of the undergrounds, we take care of it ourselves, removing the guy, and making sure he doesn’t come back in.
Listen, I have access to a scanner, and I know how many calls the po-po get and they can’t possibly deal with all of these types of things. I know it is awful, and I sympathize, but I can’t think of anything that the cops could’ve done (other than being a tad more sympathetic) but they deal with crazy stuff ALL DAY.
It sucks, and I wish community vigilantism was more okay, but you gotta give the cops some slack on this, they are in a weird spot too.
I’m not a cop, just someone that knows that there’s a lot of crazy shit that goes on daily, and they do what they can, but there’s only so much they can do.
I’m sorry for what happened to you. Come out with us, and we’ll try and take care of those things internally.