Chabo's Journal: A Woman Wronged

Note: This is a continuation of a series of stories written by a central Texas police officer named "Darth Tang", which are being archived by Chabo, with no editing. Read more about this project.

This story was originally posted on April 11, 2004. This story, and the way the situation was handled by Darth, was quite controvertial among some of the IPR members. I posted some excerpts of the discussion after the story.

I was called to a report of a sexual assault in a housing project. When I arrived, I found the rookie about to stroke out, and his FTO hiding behind a dumpster giggling like a small girl. It is, BTW, about 0400.

The victim in this is a large (tall & wide) woman I shall call Bee. Bee is a stone alcoholic, and is currently carrying what I would guess to be a BAL of around 0.2 or so, standing with immense dignity in a flowered mu-mu in the central playground near the pay phone she used to call us. The following conversation is taken from my body mike.

Rookie: Please tell the Sergeant what happened, ma'am.

Bee: Hey, Sar'nt Darth.

Me: Morning, Bee. What's up?

Bee: I's bin community raped.

Me: Really? Ah...that's a shame. Why don't you tell me about it?

Bee: See, dese foah tonks, dey come ovah wid a case a Key, wanna throw. So's I says, yeah, okay, and we does. An' they go. But inna liddle while, I get to thinking, and I counts: they was six. They done community raped me, Sarn't Darth! Tell me why they gonna do such a 'ting!"

{Translation} Four gentlemen of Hispanic ancestry and doubtful legal residency offered a case of Keystone Lite beer in return for sexual intercourse with Bee.

Me: Why didn't you notice at the time?

Bee: See, dere was dis movie on, I was watchin', I keeps the TV near da bed. Say, you seen my new TV, Sar'nt Darth? It nice-Panasonic, sixty-inch color."

Me: Yeah, you told me. So, was it two other guys, or did two double back on you?

Bee: Dunno. They little greasy bastids all looks alike.

Me: Okkkaaayy. Huh.

Bee: I's wantin' tuh press charges, 'cause they shouldn't never wrong a woman like that.

Me: It is a tragedy of immense proportions, Bee. And I have you say, I admire the way you are bearing up under the trauma. Not many women could.

Bee: They wronged me, Sar'nt Darth. Ya gotta run 'em down. Dey outta get stomped for it.

Me: That's an option we'll keep as a backup plan, Bee, and its certainly an excellent idea. Meanwhile, let me make sure of my facts: they slipped in six, when they had traded for four, right?

Bee: Sho'ly so. They done community raped me.

Me: The bastards. Now, I believe two of my boys have them stopped over on (location); you know, we might be able to resolve this matter quickly and in your favor.

Bee: You could shoot 'em and say they was robbin' me.

Me: Yeah...but we'll call that Plan B. Now, what I was thinking, if you were agreeable, was more of a form of compensation.

Bee: Yeah?

Me: Yeah, see, one way to look at it was they're down two six packs for what occurred, based on their promise. Add in two more six packs for physical trauma, and another case for mental anguish, and that comes to two cases. So say they pony up two cases, Bee: could we call it even and not file charges?

Bee: Two cases? Two more cases?

Me: Victim's compensation, yeah, two more cases.

Bee: That fair.

Me: Cool. I'm gonna go over there, make 'em give up the cases, and this officer will return with two cases of beer as compensation. I'll make sure they're cold, too. Its only right.

Bee: You nice. All you pol-leece such nice boys. I know I tole you this before, but anytime you boys wanna, come on around to Bee. Free, much as you want.

Me: Thanks. I'll remind the guys. We appreciate your community spirit, Bee. I'm gonna go see about the beer.

Bee: (to the rookie, as I hook 'em to my car) Y'all such nice boys. You married?

Empathy, consideration, and emotional support, the keys to a successful counseling session.

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****IPR's Discussion on the matter****

        I didnt find that story funny....

        If she was really an alcoholic and raped, that you would offer an known alcoholic two cases of beer for compensation of her rape!?

        Whatever the prior agreement had been, if she said no later, its stilll rape.

        That she was okay with it doesnt mean you did her any good.

        Sorry, didnt find this to be funny at all.

        -------------

        Doesnt sound like a rape case to me. they "paid" her with beer, that makes it prostitution. her complaint was that she was only "paid" for 4 males.

        -------------

        Nothing is stopping her from going down to the station and filing a complaint when she sobers up.

        It's totally obvious from the conversation that she considers lack of adequate compensation 'rape'. Once she felt she had been adequately compensated, she dropped the matter. You guys can say what you want, but Darth's actions may have (and probably did) prevent thousands of dollars of taxpayer money wasted on the matter in the form of public defenders, wasted police man hours, and so forth.

        And if Darth's supervisors disagree with his decisions, he'll catch hell back at the office. He still has to submit a report about it you know.

        Thank God there's still some officers who understand that in addition to the letter of the law, there's the spirit of the law to consider.

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****Darth's Reply****

Some points here:

Firstly, there's a very large question of any crime other than prostitution being committed. There is a massive gap between sexual assault, and a woman having sex twice more than she planned because she wasn't paying attention.

Secondly, if you note, she did not identify the four men, or even if it was two other men or two guys 'doubling back'.

Thirdly, we did not have the guys stopped a another location. That was simply a step towards resolving the issue.

Fourthly, and most important, Bee was happy with the resolution. In the end, for her, it was about the beer. If they had brought six six-packs instead of four, she would have been willing to have serviced six. She was pleased to get two cases for her trouble.

And, the beer: I have an arrangement with a local distributer; he makes cases of beer damaged in transit (which are normally destroyed) avalible to me; I use them to pay (adult) informants. I gave her two cases from that source.

Bee's been an alcoholic for thirty-plus years. Its her choice. The state provides her with housing, medical treatment, and food. She has no car and has never, to my knowledge, driven one.

However, there is no way we were going to take a report on that situation. Period. It wasn't a crime.

I was just trying to resolve it without leaving Bee uphappy. She's not a bad person, and she deserves to feel like she's receiving police protection like anyone else. And, in the end, she did. She was pleased by our handling of the matter.

There are many different lifestyles.

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****More replies:****

        I still dont agree with it...by your own "transcript" you talked a drunk woman out of pressing charges of rape.

        She wanted to, then you waved beer in front of a known alcoholic to make it go away because you didnt think you had a case or could find the people....sorry, doesnt sit well with me.

        I know your going to say that she is happy with the trade off, but you really gave her false sense of justice. All you did was appeal to her alcoholism and used her disease to shut her up when she was talking about pressing charges. I know your okay with that decision you made, but I'm very uncomfortable with that, you and your buddy laughing behind a dumpster screwed her worse than they did.

        -------------

        She was also rambling about shooting them and claiming they were trying to rob her, or just out right beating them. should he have followed that as well? plus, if they were to pick up the spics for rape, shed also wind up with at least a citation for prostitution. would that make it fairer in your mind?

        -------------

        She wasn't raped. She accidently had sex with 2 extra men and wasn't paid for it.

        -------------

        And by her story (the way it was relayed) was that she found nothing wrong with the situation until after they left and she did the math. Rape is against her will. It didn't sound like she was not speaking up at the time and saying no out of fear for her well being or the like.

        -------------

        Accidentally?

        She noticed it six times, and when she called the police was talking about rape, and called them about rape, not about unfair compensation. She repeatedly said in darths "transcripts" that she was raped. She did not complain or make the issue of unfair compensation. Darth made it that issue.

        Sorry if we disagree with how we see it, but that is just how I see it. I wont post anymore on this subject (I'll try anyways), but I think well just have to agree in seeing it from two different sets of eyes.

        I dont think justice was served. I think justice was avoided.

        -------------

        She didn't notice until afterwards, and was too busy watching TV during the event. This is the same thing as a hooker calling rape when the guy refuses to pay her. It would be a waste of time and resources to take this as anything other than it is. Darth did a fine job of resolving the issue.

        -------------

        "Bee" consented to sex for payment of beer. There is an assumed agreement between both parties i.e. "X" amount of beer for sex. Plus, this exchange is a crime.

        Bee believes that she was wronged in that the guys got more sex than what they paid for. So she wants justice for a crime that was commited during the act of another crime. In essence, she's using "community rape" as a means to get compensated for what she perceives to be an injustice on her part.

        So, if Bee is a crack dealer, offers three rocks for $60, but the four guys take 5 rocks for the same price, can she call the police and press charges against the purchasers for theft?

        I also find it interesting that she offers freebies to the officer in gratitude for their help. Interesting rape victim.

        If anything, she needs to get help for herself and get cleaned up.

        -------------

        Things that are pointless:
        1. Asking for help from the law, when you make your living outside the law.
        2. Trying to help a drunk who doesn't want help.
        3. Trying to get a seasoned police officer to rethink an action that he has already completed.

        Things that are not pointless:
        1. Mitigating the possibility that an affronted party will round up a group of badasses to create their own justice.
        2. Creatiing a feeling of caring and cooperation between population and local law enforcement.
        3. Beer.

        -------------

        I think the context that's being missed here is that this woman is a known quantity to Darth...he knows her, of her, what she does, and if she was actually traumatized and not just "hey, waitaminute, that's not fair", he'd have had a different reaction, or so I'd suspect. And I also would suspect that he has a keener sense of what kind of reaction her case would get. I mean, let's imagine the district attorney here.

        "OK. So, she's a known prostitute. She negotiated for beer in exchange for sex. She was watching TV during the act and didn't realize that she was penetrated two times more than the negotiated agreement until after the johns were gone. And they were unidentified illegals? Did she display any physical or psychological trauma (consistent with rape victims)?"

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****Darth's Reply:****

Much of this has already been said, but I'll throw out some points:

I know Bee. She was upset about being ripped off, rather than the sexual angle. If they had had six six-packs, rather than four, there would have been no problem at all.

I did not give her the beer to avoid taking the report-we were not taking the report at all, period. Because there was no criminal offense. If Bee had been passed out, that would have been a crime, but taking advanage of her because she wasn' paying attention is akin to taking advantage of a woman who actually believes you are a casting agent, rock star, or madly in love with her. Underhanded, but not criminal.

I gave her the beer so that she would think well of the police, and to keep her from harboring a grudge against four men she only dimly recognized. And because she has just as much right to feel the police are protecting her as anyone else does. You adjust your tactics to the person you deal with.

And the FTO was cracking up because Bee is really very funny; she has a way about her that is inherantly amusing, and the combination of her description of events (wasn't paying attention) and the rookie trying to cope with the situation was very funny.