Springs cop ignores rape report, woman says
By Lance Benzel, The Gazette
Published August 27, 2008 at 8:41 p.m.
Police are investigating a woman's complaint that she was ignored by a motorcycle officer when she told him she was speeding to get help after being bound, beaten and raped by an acquaintance.
The woman said she was crying, bleeding from her swollen lip and clad in a T-shirt and underwear when she described the ordeal to officer Jon Gustafson during a July 8 traffic stop at Platte and Nevada avenues.
The 28-year-old said she told Gustafson that she was on her way to Pikes Peak Mental Health Center to seek help.
The woman said Gustafson ticketed her for going 45 mph in a 25 mph zone and for failing to wear a seat belt, without asking questions or requesting medical assistance for her.
She said that he told her: "The bad news is you have to go to court. Good luck."
Police, who say they are barred from discussing internal investigations in detail, said their probe has been delayed because of a parallel investigation into the reported rape.
Gustafson did not return phone messages, and other attempts to reach him were unsuccessful. He remains on regular duty.
The woman, who her mother said is a client at the mental health center, said that she went to the clinic afterward but that she did not tell another police officer what happened until three days later, because she feared her attacker and that police would not believe her.
Medical records she obtained from Pikes Peak Mental Health Center confirm her visit on the morning she was ticketed.
In a series of signed evaluations, clinicians noted obvious injuries, including a swollen face, a "half-closed eye" and blood on her wrists and legs.
One evaluation noted that she was pulled over on the way to the clinic, and another mentioned that she was wearing "what appeared to be pajamas."
"(The client) was crying, and her lips and face were visibly swollen," her therapist, Darla Slicton, wrote in her report, adding that the woman said that she would not identify her rapist because he threatened to kill her.
The traffic stop occurred about 8:50 a.m. July 8, only minutes after the woman said she was released by her captor after a two-hour ordeal at a motel in south Colorado Springs.
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August 27, 2008
10:41 p.m.
Suggest removal
McMoto writes:
The lack of empathy and positive action on behalf of this woman is onconscionable. The officer has a sworn duty to serve and protect. He failed miserably.
August 28, 2008
5:23 p.m.
Suggest removal
Really writes:
"The woman, who her mother said is a client at the mental health center..." KU-KU KU-U. Enough Said. SLOW DOWN!
August 29, 2008
12:53 a.m.
Suggest removal
McMoto writes:
Response to Really - If you had just been bound, beaten, and raped, I suspect you would need mental health assistance as well. Her ligature marks and bruises were documented by Health clinicians.