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.
Too late for that. This is a duplicate thread.
Don’t waste your breath on that poster. He/she was a proud member of a now defunct clown site....
Of course it is a legitimate news article. Stuff like this happens all too frequently.
Need more info, but looks UGLY !!
“Stuff like this happens all too frequently”
Every day!
Our country is in trouble because we have 20+ million scumbags......and our elitists could care less!!
Robert Heinlein reference?
Hmm. That makes sense. Guess they got the wrong guy.
Probly pronounced RAH-zhay
he didn’t want her to drive drunk, she might hurt herself...
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