Of all the excuses offered to doubt the Portland masseuse who has accused Al Gore of sexually assaulting her in 2006, this is the saddest: She kept the pants.

When news of the woman's year-old accusations broke Wednesday—she first approached police about the incident in 2006, declined to continue with the investigation, then returned to provide a detailed statement in 2009—some commenters chastised the masseuse for not saving the pants she wore on the night of the incident, pants she claimed revealed "suspicious stains" from Gore. "She did not keep the pants, nor submit them to the police for testing," one Gawker commenter provided as reason to discredit her story.

But once the media got wind of the fact that the woman did, in fact, retain the pants—she keeps them locked in a bank safety deposit box—some used her evidence collection as an even stronger reason to doubt her claims.

On Double X, Hanna Rosin wrote: "The latest detail is that the woman saved the pants she was wearing that day (four years ago!), which apparently have some suspicious stains. Why were there 'suspicious stains' if she escaped from the room? Do 'suspicious stains' make for good DNA evidence four years after the fact?" But in a later post, Rosin backed down from her initial doubts: "this very long and detailed statement paints a picture of Al Gore that is so disturbing and so completely at odds with everything we know about him that it's hard to know what to think," she wrote. In an e-mail, Rosin explained, "I hadn't read the police report when I wrote the first post, just the news stories. Then I read the police report, and it's so long and specific that, even though it's only her side, it forces you to take the allegations seriously."

Retaining evidence of an alleged assault is not, in fact, a valid reason to cast doubt on the accusation. But for Bonnie Russell, the accuser's vigilance provided a rare opportunity to make some sexual assault jokes at the accuser's expense. "Personally. . . I can't imagine saving a dirty pair of pants for four years for the simple reason there would come a time after ignoring laundry chores for so long . . . I'd wind up tossing them in the wash and be done with it," she wrote for Salon. "That said, maybe laundry is part of her trauma.  Maybe she's too traumatized to do laundry. That I understand.  Doing laundry always traumatizes me."

Russell's harrowing experiences with housekeeping aside, few tasks are more unnerving than a victim's efforts to retain the last physical remains of his or her own assault. Keeping the pants isn't evidence of an accuser's weird obsession—it's a troubling sign of police apathy. Also in 2006, a Howard University student attended a college party where she says she was drugged, led to an upstairs bedroom, and sexually assaulted by a classmate. For days following the incident, the woman pleaded for area hospitals and the D.C. police department to collect evidence from her body and begin investigating her case. They refused.

Now, the woman still retains the underwear and T-shirt she was wearing on the night of the assault. They're wrapped in a plastic bag in her sister's closet, sitting there on the off-chance that police will finally open her case and investigate her claims. “I didn’t want her to wash them," the woman's sister said in a deposition. "Because we weren’t being helped."

Photo by Darrow Montgomery

Eligon begins by recounting the woman's assault, and its aftermath:

Elizabeth Pressman recalled sitting in her bedroom last year drinking tea and chatting with an acquaintance of 20 years when he snapped. The man began choking her, trying to force her to perform oral sex and shoving his fist in her mouth, she said.

Somewhat in shock the following evening, Ms. Pressman, 51, said she let the man back into her apartment to pick up belongings he had left there. He attacked her a second time, she said. The next day, she went to a hospital and reported the attacks to the police.

Ms. Pressman, a news researcher who formerly worked for The Times, said the officers who interviewed her at the hospital had told her that because she had invited the man in, it would be a “he said, she said” situation and that she did not have a case.

The matter was referred to a detective, who interrogated her, Ms. Pressman said. After she described what had happened, Ms. Pressman said, the detective told her, “Sounds like rough sex gone awry.”

Manhattan prosecutors eventually determined that there was not enough evidence to proceed, Ms. Pressman said. (The prosecutor’s office declined to comment on her remarks.)

In Eligon's story, we don't learn much about Elizabeth Pressman. We learn her age and gender and that she drinks tea, details which help us place her as a specific character in our minds. We learn that she was raped twice by a longtime acquaintance and that police dismissed these assaults, facts essential to Elgion's story. And we learn that Pressman is a "news researcher who formerly worked for The Times," a disclosure which covers any potential conflict of interest in Elgion's reporting of the story.

But then, Elgion closes the story with this odd kicker:

“If I were to speak to a woman about reporting a rape, I would say: ‘Don’t put yourself through it. Don’t put yourself through the humiliation and the abuse,’ ” said Ms. Pressman, whose father is the veteran television newsman Gabe Pressman. “It’s horrific what the cops do to you. It’s not worth it. Be ready to be raped a second time.”

Why? Why, at the conclusion of a story about a woman's traumatic assault and the humiliating and abusive police response that followed, is it necessary to note her father's name and occupation? Does the Times think Pressman is a more credible rape victim because her father is an accomplished journalist? Was the newspaper worried that we'd walk away from the story of this woman's rape with the nagging suspicion that she is somehow related to a man we've seen on television? Personally, I can't find any appropriate reason for derailing a woman's thoughts about her own assault in order to talk up her dad.

After Ruskowski was groped by a stranger in a Falls Church Metro parking garage last September, she attempted to report her grope to police as soon as she could get to safety. In fact, she contacted two different police departments on the night of the attack, but because of strange jurisdictional issues, wasn't able to file an actual report until the next day. Here's what happened:

I drove out of the garage, got home, (I didn't think driving while on the phone and shaking was a good idea) and called the Fairfax and Falls Church Police, who all said to call Metro Police the next day. So I did report it right away, but was told to talk to someone else the next day. Fairfax said I lived outside of their jurisdiction so they wouldn't send cops to my house to make a statement, and Falls Church said the metro wasn't their jurisdiction.

She adds: "Just wanted to be able to respond to the commenters who admonished me for not calling the police right away. Take that, commenters!"

Local anti-sexual harassment resource Holla Back D.C. has declared March "Public Transit Awareness Month" in order to "focus on public sexual harassment on our public transportation in the DC metro area." I'm inclined to support this occasion for the following reasons:

(a) About half of the groping stories I've heard (and I have heard a lot of groping stories) took place within D.C.'s public transportation system.

(b) The vast majority of the victims in these cases did not report their assaults to the police.

(c) Since many commuters rely on Metro to get to work, it's really fucking hard to avoid this particular venue for public sexual assault. (Metro logs over 700,000 trips in its system every weekday).

(d) Metro police take public transit-based sexual assaults seriously—when the assaults are reported to them. Since only a small number of Metro-based sex offenses actually reach Metro officials each year (2009's count was 43 sexual assaults), police don't see Metro-based assaults as a serious problem on the whole.

It is so ordered.

Throughout the month of February, Holla Back DC is inviting comments for ways D.C. can tackle the problem of sexual assault and harassment on public transportation. I like the suggestion of one commenter: Why not stage a public awareness campaign directly inside the venue of many assaults—on Metro trains?

Last fall, New York City waged a similar campaign against subway sexual harassment. According to an MTA presser, the campaign included a series of subway banners (a colleague sent me a photo of one, above) as well as heavy distribution of bilingual brochures encouraging victims of subway sexual violence to report the crimes to the NYPD Sex Crimes Report Hotline. The full banner text reads:

Sexual Harassment is a Crime in the subway, too. A crowded train is no excuse for an improper touch. Don't stand for it or feel ashamed, or be afraid to speak up. Report it to an MTA employee or police officer.

I think that a campaign like this is a really good start, because it addresses a few the reasons why some victims of public sexual assault don't speak up: they're taken completely off-guard by this sexual assault on their regular morning commute; they feel like no one would understand their reaction to such a thing; they doubt the authorities would care if they did report it. So, when are we going to see similar ads on Metro?

Photo by Andrew Beaujon

The GLLU, MPD’s Gay and Lesbian Liason Unit, serves the District’s Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender communities. Last week in police activity related to the GLBT community—including an assaulter who assault, and assaults, and assaults—below.

MAKING IT WORSE. FRIDAY, MARCH 6 at MIDNIGHT. The GLLU responded to a club at 1800 Half Street SW when they caught wind of "a disorderly customer," who "was inside the business and assaulted several employees." The man was arrested after refusing to leave, but he wasn't finished—when he was transported to the First District, "during processing, he assaulted two civilian cell block technicians, causing minor injuries."

BAD BREAKUP. SATURDAY, MARCH 7 at 2:15 A.M. Police responded to a  report of "a roommate dispute" in an apartment on the 2400 block of 16th Street NW. No "criminal act was committed" by either roomie, but they did commit a big relationship faux pas: "The men previously were involved in a romantic relationship, but continued to reside together despite the termination of the relationship."

DO NOT DISTURB. SUNDAY, MARCH 8 at 3:30 a.m. Police responded to the 1100 block of New Hampshire Ave. NW for an assault. There, they located "a male victim, who was not injured." He had met the suspect on P Street, then invited him back to his New Hampshire Ave. hotel room. "Once there, the suspect demanded money from the victim, who refused. A struggle ensued and the suspect made good his escape with the victim’s driver’s license and credit cards." The suspect's deets: "a black male in his thirties, approximately 6’3” tall, 200 pounds, with a dark complexion."

Photo by cali4niadreamn23

Of particular interest to members of the GLBT community, Chief Lanier stated the case was thoroughly reviewed by prosecutors at the United States Attorney’s Office and there is no evidence to support a hate crime enhancement. Furthermore, Chief Lanier indicated the initial suspected motive of robbery was eventually determined by investigators to not be correct and that the death of Mr. Hunter resulted from an altercation between Mr. Hunter and Mr. Hanna, during which Mr. Hunter suffered injuries which lead to his death.

Mr. Hanna will be presented in the District of Columbia Superior Court, at which time a judge will determine if he will be released or jailed pending the judicial process.

Note: I've seen different spellings of the suspect's name, re: Hanna/Hannah, from MPD documents. Will update when I get word from MPD.

Full statement after the jump.

From GLLU Community Outreach Specialist Matt Ashburn:

On October 15, 2008, members of the Metropolitan Police Department’s (MPDC) Joint Fugitive Task force located and arrested 18 year old Robert Hanna, who was being sought pursuant to a District of Columbia Superior Court arrest warrant charging him with Voluntary Manslaughter, related to the death of Tony Randolph Hunter.

Members of the MPDC's Homicide Branch, particularly Detectives Jacqueline Middleton and Jed Worrell, along with members of the Joint Fugitive Task Force, worked tirelessly to ensure the capture of Mr. Hanna. Chief Lanier held a press conference this afternoon, during which she thanked members of the community who had cooperated with investigators and also the countless tips that were forwarded to investigators using the MPDC’s TIP line.

Of particular interest to members of the GLBT community, Chief Lanier stated the case was thoroughly reviewed by prosecutors at the United States Attorney’s Office and there is no evidence to support a hate crime enhancement. Furthermore, Chief Lanier indicated the initial suspected motive of robbery was eventually determined by investigators to not be correct and that the death of Mr. Hunter resulted from an altercation between Mr. Hunter and Mr. Hanna, during which Mr. Hunter suffered injuries which lead to his death.

Mr. Hanna will be presented in the District of Columbia Superior Court, at which time a judge will determine if he will be released or jailed pending the judicial process.
–
Matt W. Ashburn, Auxiliary #1314
Special Liaison Unit
Executive Office of the Chief of Police
Washington, DC Metropolitan Police Department
1369-A Connecticut Avenue N.W., Washington, D.C. 20036
E-mail: matthew.ashburn@dc.gov