I'm unsure if this has already been diaried (a cursory search indicated it had not) so I wanted to share a bit of good news this New Year.
As many of you are aware from the diary I wrote two weeks ago a lesbian woman was kidnapped, beaten, gang-raped and then left naked in the street by four men on Dec 13th. During the attack the men used anti-gay language indicating they knew the victim was a lesbian.
The men also, quite stupidly, used nicknames for each other while raping the woman. That seems to have been of great help to the police, who arrested four men (two adults and two teenagers) on Dec 31st.
Two men and two teens have been arrested on suspicion of gang-raping a woman last month in the San Francisco Bay area while allegedly taunting her for being a lesbian, police said Thursday.
Officers arrested Humberto Hernandez Salvador at his Richmond home Wednesday night, Richmond police Lt. Mark Gagan said. The 31-year-old is being held without bail on gang rape, kidnapping and carjacking charges.
Police on Wednesday also arrested a 15-year-old Richmond boy and a 16-year-old Hercules boy, who were being held at a juvenile detention center on similar charges. Their names were not released.
Josue Gonzalez, 21, turned himself in Thursday after police announced they were searching for him. He was wanted on charges of gang rape, kidnapping and carjacking.
This is excellent news and we should all be so thankful to the Richmond Police Department which reacted to this incident with compassion and professionalism - never questioning the woman's story and immediately beginning an investigation which led to the capture of the suspects two days ago.
Sadly the same cannot be said for a few commenters on this site. Some people claimed the woman was lying, that the whole thing was a "hoax." I won't belabor the point but that kind of reaction is exactly what makes women who are raped so ashamed of what they went through - because they're afraid they'll be blamed or accused of lying when they do report the crime. Old attitudes die hard it seems - even within our own progressive community.
To all of you who supported the previous diary and sent good thoughts to the victim and the police - thank you. If you're interested in donating to a fund to help the victim relocate from Richmond you can click here for the group which has setup a fund to make that a possibility.