A neighbor of the convicted rapist in Cleveland who was arrested Saturday night after six decomposed bodies were found in his house said Monday that the police were notified repeatedly about violence there, but little was done.
The neighbor, Fawcett Bess, 57, the owner of Bess Chicken and Pizza, across Imperial Avenue from the house, said that about two weeks ago he found the rapist, Anthony Sowell, in the bushes alongside Mr. Sowell’s house naked and standing over a woman who was bloodied, beaten and naked. Mr. Bess said he called 911, and an ambulance soon took the woman away. But the police showed up two hours later and never interviewed him, Mr. Bess said.
“Nobody did anything because she is a girl walking around the streets,” Mr. Bess said. He did not know what happened to the woman, or if the police followed up on the matter.
Mr. Bess said that a month earlier, he had been approached by another woman who showed him bruises and blood on her neck that she claimed were from an attack by Mr. Sowell. That woman told Mr. Bess that the police took a report but appeared to do little investigation.
Mr. Bess added, “If people had come to tell us about this guy’s history, then maybe we would have paid more attention.”
Such allegations were supported by police records that indicate Mr. Sowell was accused by one woman of choking and raping her on Sept. 22, 2009, in his house. It was after this accusation that the police decided to conduct the search in which they found the decaying bodies. Police records indicate it took several weeks to assign an officer to the case and to obtain a search warrant.
Police records also show that on Dec. 8, 2008, another woman filed a report accusing Mr. Sowell of stopping her on the street in front of his house and forcing her to the back door where he punched, choked and tried to rape her.
“There were several incidents at the house that we were aware of, and we have investigated everything we had heard about,” said Lt. Thomas Stacho, a spokesman for the Cleveland Police Department. “We are doing everything we can.”
excerpted from the NYT
Thanks for sharing, dbra, or we may have never known. A woman is choked and raped and it took weeks to assign an officer to the case? Excuse me, but WTF is going on here?
A loss of humanity--civility
Debbie - Debra,
Well, it's not just in Cleveland that folks (authorities) are turning a blind eye to evil--rape-violence. Did you all see the post I put up recently about the girl that was gang raped in public? A crowd of folks watch, but nobody intervened and no one called the cops.
This shit is FU*Ked up!
Eternity
non-responsive Cleveland Police
The difference here is it was the lack of response by police, not citizens.
The police have a greater responsibility - uh - it is their JOB.
The California case was discussed on NPR and some dame got on and cited research that shows the greater number of people present the less likely the odds on helping. She kept saying "Drop a penny in an elevator with one person and then drop one in an elevator packed with people and see the difference".
I say hogwash. The people who were silent in their efforts to assist this victim were complicit.
But here, people WERE calling for help. It was the "help" that failed and is complicit in the deaths?
The police and the kindness of strangers
Debra,
Right, absolutely...it is the job of the Police to protect the citizens; wherever they may be. Though the connection I was making with the other rape scenario is the diminished sense of humanity that we see expressed contemporary society.
It's completely unacceptable! As in my opinion, whether or not it is a person's job (per se) we are all human, and at some point of another we will all find ourselves dependent on the kindness of a stranger(s).
Eternity
maybe its the same
maybe the police department involved in the negligent handling of the Sowell situation. More and more reports are coming out about years of complaints and more and more bodies are being found.
Intentional extermination
As someone who lives on the same mean streets walked by this killer, I can say the people in my neighbiorhood are being exterminated by our leadership, which controls the police.
10,000s of citizens of Cleveland and East Cleveland are so meaningless to our leadership they could be killed and disappear without a trace and without anyone at the top really caring - we see it daily.
In the case of denying police protection to citizens, it has happened to me in East Cleveland - the police refusing to take serious crime reports and refusing to send police to investigate - and I think in this case EC is violating federal fund terms and should have to return federal money provided to police my neighbiorhood - all that is the fault of the planners of University Circle East and Cleveland, who are the most powerful people in the region.
So, the most powerful people in the region put my family in physical harm, every day, and they want as many poor people to die or to go away as possible.
That is called Strategic Investment Initiative!
So, large percentages of citizens in Cleveland's hood are expendable to unreal NEO society and may disappear without real investigation - that is with intent.
Eternity, please tell me leadership isn't so evil in Atlanta... the two rape stories you related apply exactly here.
People are being raped all day every day in poor old NEO, and almost nobody cares.
Disrupt IT
care
the Sound of Ideas is covering this very issue this morning.
maybe new legislation could come out of this, similar to the changes made in how police handle domestic violence. In the case of reported DV, officers are required to make an arrest, press charges even if the victim recants. this was done in recognition of the fact that abusers often manipulate (honeymoon part of cycle) or coerce their victims into silence.
the excuse for the lack of action on the part of police in the Sowell case is that somehow all these women, who were attacked but escaped, didn't follow up on prosecuting Sowell. I find this somewhat incredible, but even if, how about the police take some fucking initiative and follow up themselves? If they had legislation requiring them to do so, maybe it would help.
it isn't rocket science.