Day of Blogs

Because this story happens to be published in the Daily Mail, I’d really love to believe that it’s sensationalized bullshit. After all, Fox News is seemingly more reliable. The bad news is that I actually do believe it:

Police allegedly marched a rape victim who had been found crying in the street at 1am to a cab firm, and then made her pay the fare home.

[. . .]

The woman reported the incident, which took place on 4 July, the next day but investigators fear important forensic evidence may have been lost.

A senior source said: ‘It should have been clear that she may have been sexually assaulted. To top it off, they put her in a cab with another strange man.’

Police think the woman may have been raped by an unlicensed taxi driver who dumped her in the street.

The Met insisted the officers who were asked to help the woman were unaware she may have been raped.

Right, because who might have guessed that a woman found slumped in the street, crying and wearing nothing but a tee-shirt might have been sexually assaulted? Or you know, maybe have thought to ask?

Then we see this comment from Lisa of West Yorkshire:

The lady was obviously very drunk if she couldn’t say “excuse me officer, but I’ve been assaulted and I need help”. Sadly nowadays - as others have said - semi naked drunk people are very commonly found on the streets at 1am. It’s not their fault that the majority of semi-naked women in “distress” on the streets are just disgusting drunks, not victims of any crime.

Well with attitudes like that running around, it’s easy to see how something like this could have happened. One almost has to wonder if Lisa even really does bother distinguishing those “disgusting drunks” and “victims of any crime” in her mind, especially since she’s assuming that this woman was drinking. I wouldn’t be surprised if the officers felt similarly — and I doubt that their jobs are even remotely at risk.