People Filmed Sex Assault Instead of Stopping It: Cops

Woman files rape complaint after pics, videos go viral
By Ruth Brown,  Newser Staff
Posted Oct 16, 2013 1:49 PM CDT
People Filmed Sex Assault Instead of Stopping It: Cops
   (Shutterstock)

On the upside, some people caught evidence of an alleged sexual assault on Instagram over the weekend, which may help police investigate the incident. On the downside, those people posted the pictures and videos online, but didn't call police or otherwise try to stop it. The photos and videos show a man performing oral sex on a woman on a public street. The woman, a 20-year-old Ohio University student, filed a rape complaint on Sunday, after the clips quickly circulated online, college newspaper the Post reports here and here.

Athens police say they have identified the man and he is cooperating, reports the Athens News. Now they must determine whether the woman was drunk, and therefore unable to consent to the act. The university police chief slammed the onlookers, both for taping without helping, and for later shaming the victim online. "There have been some real examples of some victim-blaming behavior," he says, per the Post. "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." (More University of Ohio stories.)

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