A rape witnessed, a rape ignored

[Nemesis6]

As many as 10 people witnessed a man raping and beating a woman early Tuesday in the hallway of a St. Paul apartment building, police said Wednesday.

No one stopped it.

At one point, the 26-year-old victim knocked on a door, yelling for the occupants to call police. A man inside told police he didn't open the door or look out, though he said he called police. Police found no record of the call, according to an affidavit for a search warrant filed in Ramsey County District Court.

St. Paul police arrested Rage Ibrahim, 25, on suspicion of criminal sexual conduct Tuesday. He hasn't been charged.

"It was horrifying. I can't describe how it sent chills up my back, watching this woman getting assaulted and people turning their backs and doing nothing," said St. Paul police Cmdr. Shari Gray, who oversees the department's sex crimes unit.

She saw surveillance video that recorded the attack in the Highwood neighborhood.

As the woman screamed, five to 10 people - men and women - peeked out their apartment doors to see what was happening or started walking down the hallway and retreated after witnessing the assault, Gray said.

When someone did call police to 371 S. Winthrop Ave., the caller reported drunken people in a hallway, not a violent assault, so the 911 dispatcher classified it as a "disturbance," Gray said.

The first 911 call came at 2:43 a.m. Tuesday, and police arrived at 3:25 a.m., she said.

"That was a significant time lapse, but it would have been cut down significantly" had the caller described the attack differently, Gray said.

Emergency calls in St. Paul are assigned priority numbers from 1 to 4, indicating how quickly police must respond.

The caller's account triggered a "priority four," rather than a "priority two," assigned to violent crimes in progress, said Tom Walsh, a police spokesman.

"Priority one" is assigned only to calls of a police officer down, Walsh said.

"The reason we prioritize calls is we don't have enough bodies to answer all of them," Walsh said. Officers are instructed to respond as quickly as they can, he said.

The case is reminiscent of one seared in the American memory - the 1964 Kitty Genovese murder in New York.

Genovese was stabbed to death outside a Queens apartment building while many people looked on from their windows but didn't step in to help. When one person called police, Genovese reportedly was already dead.

The "Genovese syndrome" - or bystander effect - describes the mind-set that might have been at work in the St. Paul case. The larger the number of people who witness a crime, the less likely any one person is to jump in and assist, said Steve Prentice-Dunn, a psychology professor at the University of Alabama.

"It's mainly because when a number of people are looking, they don't feel as individually responsible for what's going on," he said. "That's the reason why there is not safety in numbers, in terms of the bystander effect."

Another factor could be that people faced with emergencies don't think as carefully and logically as they normally would, Prentice-Dunn said.

People also tend to question themselves about whether they are "reading the situation correctly," he said.

"You don't want to be embarrassed by jumping in and doing something unnecessary," Prentice-Dunn said. "When onlookers are interviewed after something like this happens, it's amazing how often people say: 'I wasn't sure what was happening. I wasn't sure if this was a quarrel I shouldn't get involved with.' "

And the element of fear - for the bystanders' own safety - can't be forgotten, he said.

The man arrested in the St. Paul case and the victim knew each other, Gray said. Apparently, neither lived in the building.

According to the search warrant affidavit:

When police arrived, they found Ibrahim and a woman on the floor in a hallway, both naked from the waist down.

The woman appeared to have blood on her legs and injuries to her face. Ibrahim told the officers they were just drunk, but the crying woman told them Ibrahim had drugged and raped her.

Paramedics took the woman to Regions Hospital in St. Paul for a sexual assault examination and to be treated for her injuries.

The surveillance video shows Ibrahim and the woman leaving an apartment, and Ibrahim standing over the woman and removing his pants.

A man approached Ibrahim and the woman at one point, the video shows. Ibrahim got up, confronted the man and, with no pants on, chased him down the hallway. Ibrahim then returned to the woman.

The video also shows Ibrahim striking the woman five times.

When police interviewed the woman at the hospital, she said two men she knew only by nicknames, John and Gomay, had brought her to the apartment.

She said she wanted to leave, but Gomay wanted to have sex with her. She refused, she said, but Gomay assaulted her and then raped her. She said John had tried to intervene at one point.

A judge granted a search warrant for the apartment Ibrahim and the woman had been in.

This happened in Somali neighborhood, that might provide some context to this bit -

Charged with two counts of rape, Rage Ibrahim turned himself in to Ramsey County authorities Thursday afternoon. ?Ibrahim is innocent of rape he said,? says Omar Jamal with the Somali Justice Center, speaking on behalf of Ibrahim.

This is not the first time apparently...

The victim wasn?t in the St. Paul courtroom Friday when Afif Abdiaziz Ahmed was sentenced to 17? years in prison.

Ahmed beat his wife so badly last summer in her St. Paul apartment that she is in a prison of her own: She has permanent brain damage and scars. She will never be able to care for her 17-month-old son because she will never be able to care for herself. Advocates and law enforcement authorities say domestic violence often is a taboo topic in the male-dominated Somali community. Women are strongly discouraged from reporting it, said Omar Jamal of the Somali Justice Advocacy Center. There is a ?deep mistrust in the system,? he said. ?This case created bad disagreement in the community. Most of the men didn?t like that the women [took the case] this far.?

I conclude with this Somali proverb: Naag waa guri ama god ha kaga jirto. ("Your woman should be in the house or in the grave.")

Then of course there's also - Soomaali been ma maahmaah do.
("Somalis don't say a false proverb.")

 

[Gunner]

Sickening.

But a lot of people are aware of the bystander effect so it's not always like this. And it also depends on where you live; if you live in a nice neighborhood you can be sure the whole block will call the police if they see something happening.

And what kind of a name is Rage? wtf...

 

[Laivasse]

I tried to stop a guy beating his girlfriend near a crowded bus stop once and ended up taking some punches to the face for my trouble. He was some huge black guy with gemstones in his teeth, plus my bus ended up arriving so I didn't retaliate, but noone else at that bus stop did a thing at any point. Well, apart from noticeably trying to avoid eye contact with me when I shouted "SOMEONE CALL THE POLICE." People are slime.

 

[Jintor]

This is like that thing that set Roscharche off... what was it.

Yeah, this thing.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kitty_Genovese

/EDIT It was in the article, but a link is good too.

 

[Absinthe]

This is exactly why nobody, sans one person who ended up getting a few blows to the face, stepped in to help my brother when he was jumped in the middle of a crowded downtown area.

I'd like to get indignant, but I can't say I deserve to be. I too witnessed a guy beating up his girlfriend outside of a busy airport with at least a hundred others and didn't lift a finger thanks to that wonderful dissolution of responsibility. :|

I studied this in my Psych course, and it is sick and unfortunate that this happens, but I try not to hold bystanders entirely responsible for their inaction. It can be a pretty overwhelming psychological phenomenon.

 

[PvtRyan]

Rage is such a badass first name.

 

[kirovman]

An ignored rape happened as well in this article:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/glasgow_and_west/6960318.stm

The 38-year-old woman was attacked near Glasgow's Stirling Road on Sunday.

She had tried to flag down cars as she was being chased along a busy road, but no vehicle stopped to help.

The victim was then dragged into bushes and attacked.

 

[Darkside55]

A lot of people have this, "Not my problem," attitude. They simply can't be troubled when the incident isn't affecting them directly. Even if they clearly understand the situation, they think, "Maybe I really don't understand what's going" to absolve themselves and ease their conscience for not acting. It's true, people don't want to embarass themselves by stepping in and being wrong about what's going on. Then of course there's the issue of self-preservation; few individuals are selfless enough NOT to worry about their own safety in matters like this.

What's interesting about the bystander effect is that they are, indeed, bystanders; people will stop and watch what's going on but few ever venture to help. It's like those people who witness an accident on the road and they slow down to watch, but nobody wants to get out of their cars and check to make sure everyone's OK.

I wonder where we got that attitude from. What makes people able to ignore those things and walk on by?

 

[leib10]

In Psychology, it's known as the bystander effect.

 

[No Limit]

And why did you bold the man's name? Is this someone we should already know or do you have another point with this thread?

 

[joule]

One of them should have at least called the police. :|

 

[Asknoone]

bystander effect[/SIZE]

bystander effect

In Psychology, it's known as the bystander effect.

Oh, really?

 

[Sulkdodds]

The Genovese phenomenon always astounds and horrifies me. I never cease to be disgusted.

I'm not quite sure why Nemesis is using these Somali proverbs, bereft as they are in our eyes of any material context - they could be hundreds of years old - or indeed why he is focusing on this particular incident, not in itself political. The more obvious and interesting approach would be to use this happening as a jump-off point for an interesting discussion about the bystander effect in general, or even about so-called 'good samaritan laws'.

This Somalian proverb at the end might seem like a non-sequitur, but I am beginning to suspect it is a coded message of some sort! Could it be that Nemesis is trying to imply something? Could it be that Nemesis is trying to incite hostile discussion about Somalia generally, based on a small spattering of incidents that provide only the most vacuous and tenuous of grounds for such a specifically dim view of an entire country?

Could it be that Nemesis is trolling?

 

[No Limit]

Could it be that Nemesis is trolling?

What? Nemesis trolling? No way.

 

[Darkside55]

I don't know whether he's trolling or not, but you know, there are people in many civilized societies that echo those Somalian sentiments. "Get back in the kitchen, woman," is neither a new nor foreign concept.

 

[Ridge]

****, man. If shit like that went down in a building I lived in, you can bet I would get off my ass, grab my AR-15 and bid that bastard a good morning...

 

[Jintor]

****, man. If shit like that went down in a building I lived in, you can bet I would get off my ass, grab my AR-15 and bid that bastard a good morning...

Would you?

Would you really?

 

[Cormeh]

****, man. If shit like that went down in a building I lived in, you can bet I would get off my ass, grab my AR-15 and bid that bastard a good morning...

"I will shoot you if you don't stop being violent." :rolling:

 

[Raxxman]

Not the same thing but a similar incident.

Was walking home from work when a guy walked past me clearly off his face with both his wrists slashed. Blood was dripping from him and he was staggering down the fairly busy road. Everyone else just ingored him, and didn't even bother calling the police or medics.

It was just weird, to see people just wander out of the way. Sickening really.

 

[Jintor]

But did you call the police or medics?

 

[Raxxman]

yeah I called medics, followed the person down the street (he was ignoring me when I asked him if he was alright and needed assistance). Whent he Ambulance came he ran off, they can't assist someone who doesn't want assistance, so they refered it on to the police. I gave my details in and was called back by the police to confirm description as they picked him up a few minutes later.

And just for the record if I ever witness a rape I'll cave the guys skull in.

 

[The Monkey]

This shit drives me mad. We had a similair case here a while ago where a woman was being brutally murdered. The person in the apartment below heard everything, but did call the police because she "needed to finish some letters".

 

[Nemesis6]

Monkey, do you remember if the guys were Somali? Somali immigrants have quite a reputation for this in Sweden; made headlines when they almost beat a woman to death on what I think was Christmas or New Year's eve, but you probably know more about that.

 

[No Limit]

Monkey, do you remember if the guys were Somali? Somali immigrants have quite a reputation for this in Sweden; made headlines when they almost beat a woman to death on what I think was Christmas or New Year's eve, but you probably know more about that.

Wow. What an idiot. Thank you for proving your intent with this thread though, should make it clear for anyone that didn't understand your intentions originally.

Do you honestly think one group of people is more prone to this type of shit than another. You think this doesn't happen to white people just as often?

You really are a racist prick and a troll, not sure that I'm actually suprised.

 

[Sulkdodds]

Monkey, do you remember if the guys were Somali? Somali immigrants have quite a reputation for this in Sweden; made headlines when they almost beat a woman to death on what I think was Christmas or New Year's eve, but you probably know more about that.

Are you going to stop being duplicitous and say anything openly?

With all your posts and with this thread you're implying that horrific sex crime and misogynist attitudes are a uniquely Somalian condition (even when they go to foreign countries they do it!) but you refuse to do it openly; your post is quite well framed as a casual enquiry: first the tentative question, then the reasonable precedent, and then you actually try to goad Swedes into posting about it themselves ("you probably know more about that") so that we get first-hand local knowledge.

To try and manipulate people into certain responses while consistently refusing to make explicit your argument or position is a form of trolling, and anathema to political discussion. Cease now.

Note: there would not be anything necessarily racist about arguing that there is something fundamentally disgusting in a culture, but such an argument would need to be well made and backed up with evidence.

 

[Nemesis6]

I asked him a question because I remembered a specific incident. I was wondering if he was talking about the same one. Now please stop.

 

[Solaris]

Monkey, do you remember if the guys were Somali? Somali immigrants have quite a reputation for this in Sweden; made headlines when they almost beat a woman to death on what I think was Christmas or New Year's eve, but you probably know more about that.

Nemisis, you're a racist asshole.

You make me sick.

Ban this troll.

 

[Nemesis6]

I'm not "Nemisis", ok Slolaris? And I'll rise above your petty namecalling and not respond to you. The Somali expatriate community seems to have a problem with this and a lot of other things, discussing such doesn't make me a racist. It might make me "Islamophobic", but that's good.

 

[Sulkdodds]

I asked him a question because I remembered a specific incident. I was wondering if he was talking about the same one. Now please stop.

I hope you don't expect anyone to believe that all your posts are unrelated. Monkey made no reference to Somalians at all; the focus of his example was on the Genovese effect. You made the leap to Somalia. You are trying to provoke people into supporting something you have not openly said.

I'm not sure you understand what I'm telling you, so I'll repeat it as simply as possible.

If you have a point you want to make - and you clearly do - MAKE IT OPENLY and SUPPORT IT. Otherwise, don't bother. Don't skate around the edges of argument, implying things but never committing. You are not fooling anyone. It's trolly, spammy and it needs to stop NOW.

My advice would be to immediately make clear your position and support it logically.

EDIT:

The Somali expatriate community seems to have a problem with this and a lot of other things, discussing such doesn't make me a racist.

Finally! If you'd just made this the clear point of the thread you wouldn't be quite so near to more infractions this moment.

Now to substantiate it with, you know, evidence.

 

[Tyguy]

weren't they the black people in black hawk down?


/blatant attempt at a racist joke

 

[Nemesis6]

There are a lot of examples. Note: Highly graphic picture - http://fjordman.blogspot.com/2005/12/immigrant-rape-wave-in-sweden.html
The media tried to obscure their racial identity; they actually lied about it, but truth did get out. But especially in the USA, they're a problem. The whole Muslim cabdrivers refusing to have blind people with guide-dogs in their cars: Somali drivers. Put that in context with the fact that this took place the same place as the two examples mentioned in the start of this thread.

 

[No Limit]

Lets get everything out in the open Nemesis. What you are saying with this thread and your comments is that Somali men are prone to raping women. And the somali community is okay with that. Right? If I am wrong explain the point you are trying to make.

 

[Hectic Glenn]

That explanation would be great, and heed the advice Sulkdodds is giving you because, he's got the order to fire at will on members like yourself when he sees fit.


And I think I can hear someone turning the safety off...

 

[The Monkey]

Monkey, do you remember if the guys were Somali? Somali immigrants have quite a reputation for this in Sweden; made headlines when they almost beat a woman to death on what I think was Christmas or New Year's eve, but you probably know more about that.

No, everyone involved were natives.

I don't why where you get this about the Somali being violent; from my experience they tend to be quite harmless, even though they also, just like their arab counterparts, often are forced to take jobs as cleaners despite having a college degree.

 

[Nemesis6]

Yes, it seems that way, No Limit. Their culture is different than ours, and like their fellow Arab Muslims, they are sometimes a very closely-knit community that will actually support stuff like honour-killings. In this sense, they are more similar to the Pakistanis than to the Arabs. I don't know much about about Somali family values or their typical level of Islam to Islam (Submission to Submission! ), but it's apparent that kind of like the Pakistanis, they focus a lot on what the family members can and cannot do, and take it in their own hands to "correct" their wrongs. In Pakistan they do it by pouring acid in the womman's face. Here they shoot them on open street.

 

[No Limit]

Yes, it seems that way, No Limit.

Wow. How do you even begin to argue with that? Better yet I'll just leave it alone. No point in wasting my time pointing to rape statistics and how many white, christian, people do this each year compared to others. Nothing will change your racist thinking.

 

[Nemesis6]

Racist is a powerful word, No Limit. It's the best way to silence an opponent. The problem is, people have to believe you when you use it. Otherwise, you'll look desperate. I honestly don't care if you call me a racist or not, since for one it won't be the first time, and second, I wouldn't be the first time, and the word is thrown on anyone who criticize Islam or Muslims. RepiV for example. In other words, if Solaris calls you a racist, you're doing something right. Besides, you called someone a racist just because he criticized the citizens of New Orleans, you have no right to use that word when you just use it as an insult.

 

[No Limit]

Racist is a powerful word, No Limit. It's the best way to silence an opponent. The problem is, people have to believe you when you use it. Otherwise, you'll look desperate. I honestly don't care if you call me a racist or not, since for one it won't be the first time, and second, I wouldn't be the first time, and the word is thrown on anyone who criticize Islam or Muslims. RepiV for example. In other words, if Solaris calls you a racist, you're doing something right.

There is a difference between criticizing a religious group and calling them rapists based on a few isolated incidents. But I won't engange in your troll topic any further.

 

[Nemesis6]

I didn't say all Somalis were rapists. Yes, these are indeed isolated incidents, but they are still indicative of a rising problem. I could turn it around and call you a racist for stifling debate on the matter. Well, assume what you will about me, in your book, I'll just be another racist and I'm fine with that.

 

[Asknoone]

Nemesis, start backing up your points with evidence and support. Read and follow what Sulkdodds is saying and do it carefully. If you do not follow and read carefully, I am going to perma ban you from this website, so we won't have to put up with your insidious posts and rancid opinion.

I, and others, are tired of this crap, and anti-Muslim lunacy you seem to carry around your neck. Your posts have no point, and exist only to incite. This is trolling.