As one of my friends said on a social media site this
morning, “Worst time ever for a crotch-grab”.
With the news about Penn State being blared on all media 24/7, John
Chadima apparently got drunk and fondled the genitals of a student-employee of
the UW Athletic Department.
My question, after having read every word (save for the
redacted names) of the report, is not for Chadima, or Barry, or the 4-member
panel that undertook the official investigation. I’m not sure at whom my question is aimed,
but it involves UW Police Lieutenant Jason Whitney.
My question is: since it was widely reported by a number of
credible local news media that no police agency was involved in the Chadima
debacle, why does the report clearly indicate Lt. Whitney was informed of the
sexual assault, and where is the official police report?
My question is out of ignorance. Is it not necessary to file a report when a
sworn officer is told of an (at that point, one assumes) “alleged” sexual
assault? When the UW Police Lieutenant
was informed of the incident, did he interview either the complainant or the
alleged perpetrator, and if so, is there some sort of report on it?
The only reason I ask is not to throw mud at Lt. Whitney or
call into question the actions taken by the UW in officially dealing with this
incident. As an old-fart former news
anchor, I wonder why, when the local media asked if there was ANY police agency
involved in the Chadima thing (the questions were posed when we had no idea
what Chadima’s resignation was about), the UW said NO police agency was
involved.
My question begs another question: will sexual assault
charges ever be filed against Chadima?
Is it not a sexual assault if the victim decides not to “press charges”? I’m really exposing my ignorance here.
Years ago, I went through some media training offered by the
Madison Police and a local law firm regarding what constitutes sexual assault,
what constitutes the various degrees of sexual assault; and, I’ve had no small
amount of “management training” on the topic of sexual assault and what constitutes
a hostile workplace. I also know, as do
most adults who’ve worked with others, that there’s a hell of a lot of sexual
assault that never gets reported.
The way I understand it, if actual unwanted touching of
genitals is involved, it’s second-degree – not fourth degree, as many of the
media are reporting it today. I’m not
sure where the media got their information on this, and perhaps the laws,
rules, and interpretations have changed, but when I went through the training,
saying something boorish like “nice ass!!!” was fourth-degree; but if there was
actual unwanted touching of genitals….not groping through clothes….it was at
least second degree.
I guess that’s why I’ve enjoyed reporting, writing, and
delivering news for the past four decades: I’m curious about this stuff,
skeptical of authority and officialdom, and always full of questions. If I were actually working this story, I’d
ask the questions I pose here to a competent authority on the issue.
I understand that big-time collegiate athletics is very much
a tight-knit and closed society; I’m not surprised in any way that the victim
of Chadima’s advances was so clearly concerned that his report of the assault not
upset the team, which was preparing for the Rose Bowl; nor am I surprised that
the UW kept a lid on this thing until the independent investigation was
released.
I am surprised at Chadima’s disgusting and completely
inappropriate use of power and force, threatening to fire student-employees who
didn’t do what he asked them to do. I am
shocked at his incredible lack of judgment in getting involved in a type of
incident so similar to what happened at Penn State, while that story was still
very much in the news.
And I hope somebody who knows more about this than I do will
be able to answer my question.
And to Channel 27’s Tony Galli: you scooped everybody. Congratulations.
When I used to do criminal defense, I represented a guy whose wife said she had falsely accused him of battery and wanted to recant. I ran that by the ADA and asked her to drop charges, and she said "No."
ReplyDeleteI said "But she recanted and doesn't want charges pressed."
The ADA said "They always recant."
So not the best way of looking at that, but the policy was to discourage defendants from browbeating victims into recanting to avoid conviction.
Sexual assault would be a different matter: pressing charges with a reluctant victim means exposing a person's private life and holding them up to the kind of (sometimes) ridicule/shame that accompanies being a victim of assault. The victim here may be gay and not want people to know. He may wish to avoid appearing to be gay. He may simply not want people to think of him as "the groped guy."
The policy interests in pursuing such prosecutions (avoid pressure to recant) might be outweighed by the particular privacy interests involved.
Section 940.225(3) makes sexual contact without consent a class A misdemeanor, 4th degree sexual assault. If the victim was intoxicated and unable to consent it raises it to 2nd degree, but here the report is the victim objected, so that would be difficult to prove.
Thanks, Briane. If I were a reporter on this story, I would have called you first.
DeleteHas anyone noticed how this incredible shrinking story is completely absent from local sports talk radio? UW athletics has a complete and total muzzle on the story. A high-level official serves alcohol to students without regard to age, gropes one, threatens more than one. Classic sexual predator stuff and there's nothing but silence in most of the media? And what about the pile of hippocrites at the UW Admin. who are fighting a war against binge drinking and State Steet bar...while your Athletic Dept. throws free gulp and grope parties. Seems like so wags could really have some fun asking questions.
ReplyDelete"Local sports talk radio" in Madison is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the UW Athletic Department, so don't expect the Big 10-70 or WIBA-AM to say anything about this. The people who do those shows are afraid they'll lose access to UW Sports if they say anything negative about it. It's all part of being in "the big club", and it's a shame.
Deletehttp://host.madison.com/wsj/news/local/education/on_campus/on-campus-explainer-why-police-aren-t-investigating-chadima-allegation/article_d88cabda-4b77-11e1-a9ec-0019bb2963f4.html
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