A woman who says she was raped
after a night of partying Downtown filed a federal lawsuit this week against a
Cincinnati police officer for arresting her instead of helping her.
The woman’s suit alleges
Officer Adrienne Brown took her to the Hamilton County jail instead of a
hospital early Jan. 19, swearing at her and treating her like a criminal. The
officer charged her with resisting arrest and disorderly conduct while
intoxicated.
“My beautiful night out turned
into a nightmare,” said the woman, 44, in an interview with the Enquirer today.
“I don’t trust the police anymore. If you are hurt, the police are supposed to
help you. She talked to me like I was some kind of trash on the street, like
some kind of dog. She had no compassion at all, as a woman, for what happened
to me. I am just outraged.”
After the woman was booked into
the Hamilton County jail, she says she was held in a restraining chair with a
bag over her head.
The suit, filed Monday by
attorney Eric Deters, demands a jury trial and requests compensatory and
punitive damages.
Cincinnati police spokeswoman
Sgt. Julian Johnson concedes Brown didn’t do enough to help or show care and
concern for the woman following her traumatic experience.
“The officer could have been
more sensitive in the situation,” Johnson said.
Chief Jeffrey Blackwell said he
grew concerned when he viewed the officer’s cruiser camera, which captured part
of the woman’s encounter with the officer, she said.
“The chief viewed the
videotape. He didn’t like what he saw. He thought the officer could have been
more sensitive,” she said.
Police released the video,
which shows Brown taking the woman to the hospital before taking her to jail.
"I don't need no hospital.
I need you to understand … I was just raped right here on this corner,"
the woman said to Brown as she was sharing her information at the scene.
During the ride to the
hospital, the woman used her hand to repeatedly bang on the divider separating
the backseat from the frontseat of the police car and complains of the
officer's driving. Brown requests that she put her seat belt on. The woman then
asks where they are going.
"I am taking you to the
hospital, so you can get some help," Brown said.
"Did I ask you to take me
to the hospital?" the woman said.
"My supervisor told me to
take you," Brown says before the woman interrupts, "Did I ask you to
take me to the hospital?"
After stopping at University of
Cincinnati Medical Center, according to the arrest and investigation report
from the Cincinnati Police Department, the woman became very aggressive when
she was removed from the cruiser.
The woman then attempted to
swing at an officer and was told that she was under arrest, the report says.
The woman then refused to be taken into custody and had to be restrained by
multiple officers, according to the report.
Back in the cruiser, Brown then
tried to get information from the woman. The officer repeatedly asked her,
"what is your name?"
After struggling to get an
answer, the officer then told the woman that she was done talking to her about
anything other than her information.
"Let me explain something
to you right now and you listen, and you listen good because this is going to be
the last thing I am going to say to you," Brown said. "You can either
give me your information or I can put you down as a Jane Doe, which means you
will not get a bond."
Officer Brown then left the
hospital to take the woman to jail.
Brown was put on desk duty
while an internal investigation proceeds.
Police also are looking into
the alleged rapist and trying to find the cab driver.
The suit accuses Brown of false
imprisonment and malicious prosecution and says Brown deliberately booked the
woman under the wrong name to prevent her from receiving bond.
The woman says she is a
professional who has worked in the social service industry for more than 20
years and is free on her own recognizance.
Her lawyers plan to try to get
the charges, which include disorderly conduct and resisting arrest, tossed out
by a Hamilton County Municipal Court judge Friday.
According to the suit, the rape
occurred after a patrol officer put the woman in the cab after she left the
club, Scene Ultra Lounge, 637 Walnut St.
But instead of driving to her
Covington hotel, the taxi driver drove to a deserted lot on Cincinnati’s West
Side, overpowered her and raped her in the backseat, the suit says.
The woman said he kept her
underwear as a souvenir. Then, he allegedly yanked her out of the cab and
slammed her to the ground, causing her to hit her head and go in and out of
consciousness.
She was able to flag down two
women, who called 911 just before 4 a.m.
The woman was sitting in one of
the passerby’s vehicles trying to call her family when the officer ordered the
woman to “get the (expletive) out of the car” and grabbed the phone out of her
hand, according to the suit.
When the passersby asked if
they could accompany the woman to the hospital, Brown replied, “No, you can
(expletive) leave,” the suit says.
