Woman and supporters tell Hurst City Council police failed her, blamed her for rape
.jpg "File photo.")
Hurst residents and people from neighboring communities are calling for law enforcement to be held accountable after the police department was accused of telling a woman she wasn’t raped because she couldn’t feel it, speakers said at Tuesday’s city council meeting.
About 20 people showed up to support the woman, and she and four others addressed the council.
The woman, who the Star-Telegram is not identifying because of the nature of the case, told the city council Tuesday she was raped by a family member who is already in violation of his sex offender registry. Friends and supporters expressed outrage at the fact that the man accused of committing the rape has not yet been arrested.
But more than that, the woman and her supporters said, was the way in which she was treated by police. They told the council the woman was blamed for the rape and the detective assigned to the case told her it wasn’t rape if she couldn’t feel it, because of a disability that she has. She also said she was told police wouldn’t hand over evidence to an assistant district attorney in Tarrant County who prosecutes sex crimes.
Hurst police did not respond Tuesday to a Star-Telegram request sent earlier in the day for a statement or updates to the case.
Hurst Mayor Henry Wilson told the people gathered at the council meeting that while he wanted to respond, he wasn’t allowed to under state law. He also said, after consulting with the city attorney to make sure he was allowed to do so, that he and the other elected officials don’t have any legal authority to direct or control police. Police matters have to be handled by the city manager, he said.
City Manager Clay Caruthers told the Star-Telegram the police department hasn’t stopped investigating the case and that detectives have done several hours of interviews.
Caruthers hadn’t heard about some of the problems raised by people at the council meeting but he will be following up with the police chief regarding everything discussed, he said. One of the issues he will be discussing first are the claims that the man accused of committing the sexual assault is already a registered sex offender who has violated his registration.
Caruthers said he’s tried to keep his distance from the criminal investigation to protect its integrity, but does know the case hasn’t ever been “completely ignored.”
He promised to begin looking in to what was done right and what was done wrong as soon as the criminal investigation is completed and said that there may be administrative investigations within the department.
“I trust in our police department and what they do, but on the same token I certainly respect our community and our citizens,” Caruthers said. “My goal is to work with our police chief to look into the comments made tonight and all the circumstances and make sure we’re doing our jobs right.”
Police have not released details of the case, but a local man in a TikTok video said he is acquainted with two women who have been repeatedly raped by a family member in Hurst.
One of the women has disabilities and is autistic, according to the video made by Duncan Gill of Hurst, who goes by polemidies on TikTok. Gill questioned the police handling of the investigation and why no charges have been filed.
Police in Hurst said in a Sept. 14 statement that they were still investigating the allegations and were aware of the TikTok video accusing the department of not taking the report about the sexual assaults seriously enough. The department said it had received concerned inquiries from community members who had seen the video.
Police had not announced any arrests in the case as of Tuesday afternoon. On Sept. 14, Hurst police Capt. Nate Duermeyer said in a news release that the department would not be releasing information on the case to protect the integrity of the investigation and everybody involved.
Gill said in the TikTok video that the women told him there was physical evidence and that they had screenshots of messages in which their assailant apologized for raping them.
A GoFundMe account has been established for one of the women to raise money for an attorney.
“My police department and detective refuse to even hand over my case to an SVU DA who wants to handle it,” the woman said, according to the GoFundMe page. “I am just trying to get myself a lawyer and get justice not just for me but for everyone that the police department has silenced, all the rape victims they have turned away, and all the victims of any crime they dropped the ball on.”
This story was originally published September 27, 2022 at 9:36 PM.