Woman says traffic cop ignored her claim of rape

Police in Colorado Springs are investigating a woman's complaint that she was ignored by a motorcycle officer when she told him she was speeding to get help after being bound, beaten and raped by an acquaintance.

According to the 28-year-old, she was crying, bleeding from her swollen lip and clad in a T-shirt and underwear when she described the ordeal to officer Jon Gustafson during a July 8 traffic stop at Platte and Nevada avenues.

She said she told Gustafson that she was on her way to Pikes Peak Mental Health Center to seek help.

Without asking questions or requesting medical assistance, the woman said, Gustafson ticketed her for going 45 mph in a 25 mph zone and for failing to wear a seat belt.

She said that he told her: "The bad news is you have to go to court. Good luck."

Police, who say they are barred from discussing internal investigations in detail, said their probe has been delayed because of a parallel investigation into the reported rape.

Gustafson did not return phone messages, and other attempts to reach him were unsuccessful. He remains on regular duty.

The woman, who her mother said is a client at the mental health center, said that she went to the clinic afterward but that she did not tell another police officer what happened until three days later, because she feared her attacker and that police would not believe her.

Medical records she obtained from Pikes Peak Mental Health Center confirm her visit on the morning she was ticketed.

In a series of signed evaluations, clinicians noted obvious injuries, including a swollen face, a "half-closed eye" and blood on her wrists and legs.

One documented that she was pulled over on the way to the clinic, and another mentioned that she was wearing "what appeared to be pajamas."

"(The client) was crying, and her lips and face were visibly swollen," her therapist, Darla Slicton, wrote in her report, adding that the woman said that she would not identify her rapist because he threatened to kill her.

The traffic stop occurred about 8:50 a.m. July 8, only minutes after the woman said she was released by her captor after a two-hour ordeal at a motel in north Colorado Springs.

He punched her, pulled her hair and slammed her head against a concrete wall during the assault, she said.

After untying her, she said, he threatened her life and told her to say she was jumped in an alley if anyone asked about her injuries.
The woman, who tends to sleep during the day and stay up at night, said she had watched a movie with the man in her apartment and was lured into the motel, where he lives, after agreeing to give him a ride home.

The two weren't romantically involved, she said.

Gustafson "didn't say anything" about her allegations and asked only for her license, insurance and registration before handing her the ticket, the woman said.

"There was nothing in his face, there was nothing in his voice," she said. "When he went back to the motorcycle, I sat with my head slumped on the steering wheel. I pulled (away) because he didn't do anything."

On July 11, the woman's mother persuaded her to report what happened, saying that both the man the family believes raped her and the officer they say ignored her should be held accountable, the mother said in an interview.

Her parents said they fear their daughter will be written off because of her mental disability. They question whether her attacker would still be free if police had responded to the motel while the crime scene was fresh.

"She told me there were gobs of hair all over that bed and blood from her lip," her mother said.

The woman's mother is a special education teacher in the Pikes Peak area, and her father is a retired electrical engineer who once was a police officer in Florida.

The Gazette does not usually identify those who report sexual assaults, and the victim's parents' names are being withheld to protect her identity.

Their daughter has known the man she said attacked her for several years, her mother said. She said he has a lengthy criminal history, including domestic violence.

"Part of her disability has to do with how she has relationships," her mother said. "The disabled are the first to be preyed upon and abused. That is Disability 101."

The parents say the woman does not suffer from paranoia or delusions and has no history of making false allegations.

The medical records from Pikes Peak Mental Health note what appear to be self-inflicted wounds on the woman's wrists. The family acknowledged the woman has a history of cutting herself - a symptom of her mental illness - but they said that should not be used to discredit her.

A caseworker from the clinic dropped the woman off at a hospital after her visit, but the woman said she was scared and went home instead of undergoing medical treatment.

Regardless of whether the motorcycle officer believed her, they say, he had a responsibility to record allegations of a felony and offer to request medical help.

"The fact is, she was in distress, and he should have done something," her mother said. "I want him to apologize. I want him to look her in the eyes and remember her face."

A hearing on the traffic violations was postponed after the woman filed her complaint.