Posted on 08/24/2007 3:42:34 PM PDT by Extremely Extreme Extremist
(AP) -- St. Paul A 25-year-old man was charged Thursday for allegedly raping and beating a woman in an apartment hallway -- an incident apparently witnessed by as many as 10 people who did nothing.
Rage Ibrahim was charged with several counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct for the attack early Tuesday. According to the criminal complaint, police responded to a call of drunken behavior in an apartment hallway, where they found both Ibrahim and a woman lying unconscious. The woman's clothing had been pulled up, she had fresh scratches on her face and blood on her thigh.
Ibrahim says he is innocent and that the incident was a misunderstanding, according to Omar Jamal, the executive director of the Somali Justice Advocacy Center who spoke on Ibrahim's behalf.
"I'm so upset because of the situation I'm in," Ibrahim told the St. Paul Pioneer Press, as he headed to the county jail on Thursday to turn himself in. "I've got a mom, I've got a sister. I wouldn't rape anyone."
Police obtained surveillance video from the hallway, which showed the assault starting as early as 1:20 a.m. Police weren't dispatched to the scene until almost 90 minutes later, when someone finally called to report drunken behavior in the hallway.
Police spokesman Tom Walsh said the video footage clearly showed five to 10 people, both men and women, looking out their apartment doors or starting to walk down the hallway before retreating as the assault occurred.
"It shows one person looking out of her door probably three times," Walsh said. "It shows another person walking up, observing what's going on, then turning and putting up the hood of his sweatshirt."
The 26-year-old victim knocked on a door at one point, yelling for the occupants to call police. A man inside that apartment told police he didn't open the door or look out, but said he did call police -- although they have no record of his call, according to court documents.
The complaint said the video shows Ibrahim hitting the woman several times before sexually assaulting her. It said the woman was visiting the apartment of a friend, where she met Ibrahim; after drinking for several hours, she told police Ibrahim tried to stop her from leaving, and began to assault her.
Ibrahim denied to police that he tried to rape the woman, saying if he wanted to do so he would have done it in the apartment, according to the complaint.
Walsh said police were upset by the behavior of the bystanders. "It's not what we expect of responsible citizens," he said.
"If you're not comfortable, if you don't feel capable of intervening, that's fine," Walsh said. "But not calling is not understandable."
Minnesota has a Good Samaritan law that makes it a petty misdemeanor not to give reasonable help to a person in danger of "grave physical harm."
Walsh said it's unlikely police would pursue charges against witnesses in this case because the burden of proof is so high -- authorities would have to show that witnesses knew the woman was in extreme danger.
Jamal said Ibrahim went into the hallway after the woman because he thought she was too drunk to drive. They struggled over car keys, and "he is saying there was a huge misunderstanding," Jamal said, adding that the police report does not show "the truth of what happened that night."
"He did not rape her," Jamal said.
Aren’t there a lot of Somalia-types in Minneapolis?
Rage?
Time for a torture penalty...
his defense is he didn’t rape her, he only beat her unconscious? big hearted guy.
“(Minneapolis) Police: Man Rapes Woman As Bystanders Look On (ROP?)”
I’m sure CAIR and The ACLU will make it all go away as a “cultural
misunderstanding” by the lady.
(AAARRRGGGHHH!!!)
Why don’t we pull this thread. It just started and it already sucks.
This is the kind of stuff our enemies zing us for.
And the guy will want an apology too...
Don't like it don't click on it.
“Aren’t there a lot of Somalia-types in Minneapolis?”
Yep, plenty of Muslims from Somalia.
My brother got his masters degree at U. Minn (St. Paul campus).
On his last visit to the Twin Cities (2006), he said he was shocked
at how the place had gone from a nearly inbred bastion of pale European
types to a town of fairly heterogeneous population.
He said “the place is lousy with the Skinnies” (military slang
for Somalis?).
We shouldn’t be dragging religion, ethnicity, race, etc into it. And I am NO fan of the ROP.
See, I gave myself an out.
There was an incident similar to this that happened in NYC decades ago. The woman screamed for help, but people closed their windows and the woman was killed. Some were interviewed later, and they said “I didn’t want to get involved.”
“Minnesota has a Good Samaritan law that makes it a petty misdemeanor not
to give reasonable help to a person in danger of “grave physical harm.” “
Hmmm...I thought “Good Samaritan” laws were shield for folks that
gave aid to someone...like some legal protections if you give someone
a ride in your car, they can’t clean you out with a lawsuit if you have
a car accident.
But this law actually punishes folks for failing to render aid.
Maybe this is a current legal trend...
New-Djibouti?
That’s Kitty Genovese, I believe, and I also think she ended up dead while NYers watched from their apartment windows. It’s disgraceful that people would just watch and let it happen.
It’s just reality. Look at the name and picture.
If this were a one of a kind incident, I couldn’t agree more, but it’s not.
Are you serious? Did you read the article? And all you have to say is be concerned what someone might think of you for reading it? At least your in step with the MSM.
This country really is in trouble if many share your priorities.
By all means, let's just go hide somewhere and never face any of these problems!
Problem is, I can no longer find anywhere in my once great nation to hide!
Many of us were concerned when all the Somali's were given blanket asylum by the thousands a few years ago with no vetting. That's when it should have been addressed. But you know what? Someone said, "OOOOOO, we can't talk about this, we might get called racist!"
Then let’s concern ourselves with individuals. I understand that responsible individuals with a highly communicable disease might be able to somewhat circulate in public, given proper precautions and a proper mindset that understands the threat to others and is prepared to act in such a way as to minimize the threat to society at large.
On the other hand, proponents of the ROP will strap bombs to their chests whenever the pizza toppings aren’t to their liking.
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