Why can't they just ride around and look good, instead of creating trouble for people?
Posted on 04/04/2006 3:23:42 AM PDT by freepatriot32
An 18-year-old woman was kidnapped and raped early Friday morning while walking home from a traffic stop in which Upland police impounded her ride, authorities said.
Upland police allowed the woman to leave alone on foot around midnight near 14th Street and Euclid Avenue after they towed the car in which she was a passenger.
She called police from the south part of the city about two hours later and reported that a man forced her into his car at gunpoint and raped her before she made it home.
Police Capt. Jeff Mendenhall said that despite the obvious safety concerns, police followed proper procedures in letting the woman walk through the city alone in the middle of the night. It was the woman's choice to do so, he said, and officers had no authority to stop her.
"She could have been taken somewhere, but she turned it down," Mendenhall said. "If she were a juvenile we would have made arrangements to get her home. But if it's an adult we can't force them against their will."
Officers arrested the suspected assailant shortly after the woman reported she was raped.
They said the suspect, 22-year-old Seuti Magba-Kamara of Rancho Cucamonga, drove past them while they were interviewing the woman just after 2 a.m.
They pulled him over several blocks away and took him into custody without incident, Mendenhall said.
He was booked into West Valley Detention Center in Rancho Cucamonga on charges of rape, kidnapping, robbery, criminal threats and forcible oral copulation. Bail was set at $1 million.
Police said the incident unfolded about 11:20 p.m. Thursday after officers stopped the car in which the woman was a passenger.
The driver of the car, who was not identified, was arrested on suspicion of possessing drug paraphernalia, and the car was impounded.
Mendenhall said the woman initially waited in the back seat of a squad car while police called a ride for her. The ride didn't show, and the woman decided to walk to a pay phone, Mendenhall said.
She didn't come back, Mendenhall said.
Police said she made it about three miles on foot before a man pulled up in a white Chevrolet Impala and offered her a ride near San Antonio Avenue and Eighth Street.
When she refused, he brandished a handgun and forced her into his car, Mendenhall said.
He then drove her to an alley, threatened her and forced her to have sex at gunpoint, police said. He stole her ID and let her out of the car afterward, police said.
She called to report the incident at about 2 a.m. from the area of Seventh Street and San Antonio.
After his arrest, the woman identified Magba-Kamara as her assailant, authorities said. Evidence was found in his car linking him to the crime, Mendenhall said. Police also recovered the gun, which they said turned out to be an air pistol.
The woman, who suffered bruises on her arm, was treated a hospital and released.
Mendenhall said police don't like to leave people stranded on the streets.
Officers will often take them to 24-hour restaurants or even allow them to wait in the police station lobby for their rides.
This woman didn't want that, he said.
"We certainly didn't leave her stranded," he said. "There were better options for her to take."
Curtis Cope, an expert in police procedure, said Friday it appears Upland police acted within the law in allowing the woman to walk home alone.
"It sounds like an offer for assistance was made, and that would be consistent with good police practice," Cope said.
In some cases, an officer can drive a person home, but that depends on how busy the officer is and how far away is the person's destination, said Cope, who spent 29 years as a policeman and now works as an instructor on proper tactics.
Normally, police will help the person call a cab or arrange transportation. If the person chooses to walk, police must let them, he said.
According to court records, Magba-Kamara has a case pending against him. He is suspected of committing a robbery at a fast-food restaurant on Holt Boulevard in Montclair.
He was out of jail on his own recognizance Thursday night.
ping
ping
Where is this?
San Bernardino California
"She could have been taken somewhere, but she turned it down," Mendenhall said. "If she were a juvenile we would have made arrangements to get her home. But if it's an adult we can't force them against their will."
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Mendenhall said the woman initially waited in the back seat of a squad car while police called a ride for her. The ride didn't show, and the woman decided to walk to a pay phone, Mendenhall said.
Why can't they just ride around and look good, instead of creating trouble for people?
They go after the folks who don't shoot back...
WTF?
This guy was arrested for burgurlary and released.
Then he gets arrested for rape and released.
Sounds like a judge should needs to lose his/her job.
Obviously they did leave her stranded, they towed the car in which she was a passenger around midnight. I have a distrust of police in general. She may have thought she could get a ride, and couldn't. We have some really low life "rouge" cops here in Alabama.
Not to mention the catch and release of the perp, which contributed directly to the assault. Police are guilty and the judges are guilty, they can spin it all they want but they contributed to this assault.
Stupid Ba$tards..........my son had his truck burn up on a freeway on his way home from up north.....the police officers took him to the local town, and dumped him off there....his shoes, coat, wallet and cell phone were destroyed in the fire. It was 40 degrees out, he had no shoes, it was raining, he had no coat, and they would not allow him into the police station. It took me over an hour to get to him, and some nice people in a restaurant let him stay in there, use their phone to call me, and gave him some coffee to warm up....i do not give a crap about "correct" procedure.....to protect and to serve overrides the so called "correct" procedure....so does common sense.
How about taking her home?
The story said bail was set at a Million bucks, I doubt he made bail on the rape charge.
Impounding the vehicle she was in doomed her to her fate... arrest the tow-truck operator!
That'll work. He was probably paying off the police for the tow job anyway.
It was a given that many here would castigate the police. If we just did away with them we could all live in peace and harmony, while singing kumbyah.
"Police said the incident unfolded about 11:20 p.m. Thursday after officers stopped the car in which the woman was a passenger. The driver of the car, who was not identified, was arrested on suspicion of possessing drug paraphernalia, and the car was impounded.",
it was all worth it! Blackbird.
If we did away with them we could get guns and shoot the bad guys ourselves.
hrmn.
If the police can prove (via a signed waiver or dash-cam records) that the woman was offered conveyance and refused to avail herself of it, they are in the clear on this.
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