(Left to right) Eleanor, Roxanne, and Marisa, who all reported sexual assaults to the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD), stand in front of the Capitol Building in Washington, DC.
© 2012 Mariam Dwedar/Human Rights Watch
May 8, 2013
Although the man held a knife to her throat when he tried to rape her, Eleanor managed to escape. When she reported the attack to Washington DC’s Metropolitan Police, she thought the worst was over – but that was before the police refused to consider the attack an “attempted sexual assault.” Nothing she said could convince them otherwise. She felt betrayed by the people whose job it was to protect her, and she lost her faith in law enforcement. Eleanor also worried that her attacker might assault more women who, unlike her, may not be lucky enough to escape.