It Happens to Men Too
Graveyards. Summer.
Whatever the night had been like to that point, one of my classmates and I were parked car-to-car late one night, writing reports in the back of one of the stations. There wasn't enough room for either of us to get out of our cars. Lesson learned. But anyway ...
I see a boy approaching us in my rearview just as my peer sees him. Both of us mentally prepare for the worst. It's the middle of the night. What is this about??
The kid throws his hands down on the hood of my car and says, "I've been raped." He said it kind of calmly so we both thought we heard him wrong.
Nope, that's what he said.
Despite being completely taken by surprise, we muster up and start talking to this youngster. He proceeds to describe his ordeal to us and come to find out he was, in fact, selected by a stranger/predator at a public event earlier in the weekend, as a victim.
The man who ultimately made illegal sexual contact with him was a volunteer working at the event. Somehow, they struck up a friendship and this boy was invited into the man's home later.
Events unfolded from there.
Our job, as patrol officers, is to LISTEN and document. We listened to his "initial outcry" and I suppose we got him connected to the appropriate resources because it all ended up working out as well as could be hoped for.
The boy was able to point out the place where the man lived.
I never had to testify so I don't know too much about the follow-up investigation.
The man who assaulted the boy took a plea deal for 29 years with 20 years of intensive probation (I don't really know what all that means but it looks good on paper). He was a previously convicted sex offender who had failed to register.
I sure hope his victim got whatever he needed to move on with his life. The poor kid. We almost didn't believe him because of his calm demeanor and just the "this is too textbook" "feel" of the case.
I am so glad we did our jobs as professionals and got justice for that kid!!
Whatever the night had been like to that point, one of my classmates and I were parked car-to-car late one night, writing reports in the back of one of the stations. There wasn't enough room for either of us to get out of our cars. Lesson learned. But anyway ...
I see a boy approaching us in my rearview just as my peer sees him. Both of us mentally prepare for the worst. It's the middle of the night. What is this about??
The kid throws his hands down on the hood of my car and says, "I've been raped." He said it kind of calmly so we both thought we heard him wrong.
Nope, that's what he said.
Despite being completely taken by surprise, we muster up and start talking to this youngster. He proceeds to describe his ordeal to us and come to find out he was, in fact, selected by a stranger/predator at a public event earlier in the weekend, as a victim.
The man who ultimately made illegal sexual contact with him was a volunteer working at the event. Somehow, they struck up a friendship and this boy was invited into the man's home later.
Events unfolded from there.
Our job, as patrol officers, is to LISTEN and document. We listened to his "initial outcry" and I suppose we got him connected to the appropriate resources because it all ended up working out as well as could be hoped for.
The boy was able to point out the place where the man lived.
I never had to testify so I don't know too much about the follow-up investigation.
The man who assaulted the boy took a plea deal for 29 years with 20 years of intensive probation (I don't really know what all that means but it looks good on paper). He was a previously convicted sex offender who had failed to register.
I sure hope his victim got whatever he needed to move on with his life. The poor kid. We almost didn't believe him because of his calm demeanor and just the "this is too textbook" "feel" of the case.
I am so glad we did our jobs as professionals and got justice for that kid!!
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