It was just after 2 a.m. on a pitch-black Friday morning when Bernadette Greene-Placentia’s life changed. The Democratic candidate for Congressional District 8 strolled across a parking lot to repair a damaged campaign sign. It was a routine she’d followed all summer. This time, she only made it a few yards.
An attacker smashed her over the head. She blacked out. She woke up to find a strange man on top of her.
Greene-Placentia struggled to open her eyes. She felt a sharp pain below her waist. The attacker was pulling his penis out of her.
She heard him mumble something like, “-ic bitch, not a very good fuck,” which her mind filled in as “Democratic bitch,” she recalled. She wasn’t sure that was exactly what he said.
One leg was out of her jean capris. She wore brand-new tennis shoes and a campaign t-shirt. Another man came over. Greene-Placentia felt his weight nudging her left leg further apart. She began swinging her foot at him. “Not even worth it,” she heard the man say as he moved away. He wore black boots and had small feet, she recalled.
The two men left Greene-Placentia face down in the parking lot. The hatch of her silver Jeep Grand Cherokee was still open. The car was still running. She heard music.
She doesn’t remember pulling up her pants or picking herself off the asphalt parking lot. She doesn’t remember closing her Jeep’s hatch and putting her foot on the gas. She doesn’t remember pulling her car into the driveway and collapsing into her bed.
“It’s just these little tiny flashes of things that I do remember,” Greene-Placentia said in an interview with Phoenix New Times. “As much as I don’t want to remember, I’ve tried very, very hard to remember more stuff. But that’s where I’m at.”
i don’t like this story. i mean other then it’s a rape case.
first of all, while a woman should be able to go any where and do anything without the fear of this happening… her story about going to a secluded location at 2am to fix a campaign sign, in a remote unrecorded parking lot, alone is absurd. “it’s not hot at 2am” is a WILD reasoning. her campaign has staffers that do this work, and road side work alone is dangerously for many reasons. but sure, if there was evidence that this was a habitual action then fine.
second, she was targeted and attacked within…YARDS!? of leaving her running vehicle…. in a parking lot… at 2am. ok? that is impressive distance coverage, or a straight up ambush.
she did not see the attack coming and was hit hard enough to concuss immediately, when she started to come too she did not see anything identifiable even when in direct contact. ok, maybe the memory is fuzzy, she has more important things to think about at the time.
what she does remember is that they said “…ic bitch” and pointed at this being a political motivated attack and pointing at republican assailants… except ingrained in the republican lexicon, they specifically do not use the word “democratic” to refer to people of the dnc. they say “democrat bitch” because they are trying to decouple the power of the name from the democratic process. it is an open strategy of their culture war. listen to their shock jocks, they will ONLY refer to democrats as democrats even in situations were saying the full title is warranted. well maybe she miss heard?
this is aperently a two man ambush, no identifiable characteristics other then republican.
they then left her there, and left, apparently confident they could not be identified by her or surveillance.
she then drives concussed back home, and when safe collapsed. that was irresponsible and dangerous to her self and others, she needs an ambulance right away! But she was running on adrenaline and people do not make the same choices as from hind sight from someone not facing such terror.
she then wakes up, AND DESTROYS ALL THE EVIDENCE OF THE ATTACK AFTER REGAINING HER WITS! excuse me!? what the fuck? …maybe she somehow didn’t know that they could get primary evidence from her clothes?
well at least she went to the police so they can search the scene. SHE WAITED TWO WEEKS BEFORE INFORMING THE POLICE WHICH GUARANTEED THAT THERE COULD BE NO USABLE EVIDENCE RECOVERABLE AT THE SCENE?!?!?!?!?!? … ok um well… maybe she was so distraught that she had to convince her self to not cover up the attack?
… expect she openly reported the attack right after telling police, using the platform of her candidacy? and implying it was because of republicans?!
i don’t understand this, like this reads as if a republican AM radio host invented the details of the attack to build a straw man to spend the next few days attacking before the truth comes to light. this makes her look bad, if i was on her campaign, i would SERIOUSLY PUSH to keep the matter private, unless she was going to outright accuse her opponent as the one who raped her. because at no point, not a SINGLE action she took, before, during, after, the medium she used, and the means she accused a political ideology, did her ANY favors.
so please tell me this is a warped story by a lieing republican shock jock. if this is true then… well she won’t have to worry about having an instigation or a court case interrupt her campaign
That’s a lot of words to confess you have no knowledge of trauma responses.
I really, really wanted to tell you to go fuck yourself, but I really shouldn’t stoop to the disgusting level that you’ve shown here.
if you actually read it, you will know that i directly admit that people in trauma make bad decisions. and i struggle with the decisions she made but it would all have been chalked up to it being a shame she destroyed any chance in finding justice.
but the point is that using it to score political points, and implying that the fault lies with an entire political group, when her case is horrible, invites a right wing rally, and does the opposite of validating victims of rape.
like i said, it’s as if her story was constructed by a right wing shock jock specifically to attack her campaign. if she would have said something on a interview separated from her campaign, AND didn’t attempt to imply it was done by republicans with such weak reasoning, then it couldn’t be seen as a political cudgel.
also you didn’t stop your self from saying fuck you. you don’t get to abstract your insult and maintain you moral high horse.
Rape victims don’t have to be perfect to be believed.
I don’t give a single fuck that you are struggling with the decisions she made.
i can totally believe that a rape happened. and we both agree she made bad choices, we disagree as to what point that gets difficult, but normally would not invite criticism.
but when the platform of public announcement is through a political announcement where you implicate your rival is in some way responsible, that opens door to criticism. and justifies why my premise of “i don’t like it” is valid. it muddies the waters for victims of rape using a rape as political ammunition, and i think will back fire against her candidacy
Don’t put words in my mouth.
then make your arguments about what i am acting saying so i don’t have to guess.
You’re under the mistaken impression that I respect you enough to have a fruitful discussion on this topic with you.
I don’t.
so then you never had any substance, and were only looking to stir hate. you invented a person and post to hate and to virtue signal for internet points. you have not said anything respectable in any of your posts
I don’t give a fuck. I’m already on a higher moral high horse than you because I don’t defend rapists.
and neither did i. i do not defend rapeists by pointing out the victim made terrible decisions that will cost themselves justice, especially since this seems like a targeted attack.
that alone can make some one go “i don’t like this story”
using it to attack political rivals cheapens all of it, and will back fire, which i don’t like.
You should look into trauma responses, educate yourself, and do better.
you have brought nothing but unjustified ad hominem attacks, and now thought terminating cliches. you have a problem with my understanding of victim responses to harm, but you are going to have to actually deal with what i said, instead of making up your own, because i don’t get to put words in your mouth to find out
I don’t have to actually deal with what you said.
You can deal with how unpopular your comments rightfully are though.
that is an open admission to everything i accused you of, and you fall back on to an appeal to mob rule, it’s lazy and dishonest. and quite frankly i can live with negative votes. it does not invalidate my core argument of, i don’t like this whole thing.
Could the -ic comment have been Hispanic rather than Democratic perhaps?
that is more believable, i can see that happening. but then you take that, it narrows that accused to like, racists, and not republicans. but she used the rape to instead call out republicans on politics, and that feels cheap, and a bad move when the perpetrators will not be able to be found