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Uploaded: Wednesday, November 18, 2009, 12:13 PM

Police: Sexual assault victim 'uncooperative'
Police still trying to determine whether victim knew his attackers

Posted by Sarah, a resident of the Midtown neighborhood, on Nov 18, 2009 at 12:54 pm

This crime occurred at 6pm, hardly the middle of the night. If popular pedestrian paths are too dark to use safely during rush hour, the city should install more lights! The path where this crime occurred is commonly used by Menlo Park residents walking to jobs in downtown Palo Alto.

And why are the cops leaking so much information about the victim's condition? I am sure that is not helping with their recovery from this violent crime.

Posted by John, a resident of the University South neighborhood, on Nov 18, 2009 at 3:43 pm

Well stated Sarah. Judging by the comments in the newspaper, our police seem baffled that a victim of a sexual assault is struggling with how to deal with the emotional fall out. Given their very public comments I would not want to deal with them either. Does anyone else feel that our police fail our community repeatedly?

Posted by Du H., a resident of the Midtown neighborhood, on Nov 18, 2009 at 9:58 pm

University South,

Palo Alto cops do a great job caching crooks and in case you didn't notice this crime is being handled by the Menlo Park Police....

Posted by Hmmm, a resident of East Palo Alto, on Nov 19, 2009 at 9:47 am

I found this article disturbing, as well. The rape and sexual assault cases of which I've been aware, even when the circumstances were hinky, suspicious, the victim wasn't telling the complete truth or something similar, the police did NOT publicly criticize or infer criticism for the victim's behavior in what they may or may not have been holding back or been involved in during the attack.

There have been some mistakes in this case, such as the reporting the arrest of the suspect, which apparently didn't happen.

Why are the cops notifying the public about the vicitm's inability or unwillingness to identify the alleged attacker? To only reassure people that the pedestrian overpass area is otherwise safe when people take regular precautions?

It's all very strange and some of it seems unnecessary for public consumption.

No matter WHAT the victim may or may not have been involved in, unless he himself is a sex offender, I hope he gets the support he might need.

Posted by anon, a resident of the Adobe-Meadows neighborhood, on Nov 19, 2009 at 9:54 am

What a crock... This story was completely made up...

Posted by MenloParkResident, a resident of the The Greenhouse neighborhood, on Nov 19, 2009 at 10:40 am

Palo Alto police are very, very amateur. Menlos are way better.

Posted by silly, a resident of the South of Midtown neighborhood, on Nov 19, 2009 at 7:45 pm

i think john and sarah should not believe everything they hear or read. Unless they know him personally and know he is telling the truth.

Posted by Anon, a resident of the Professorville neighborhood, on Nov 19, 2009 at 8:50 pm

Maybe this victim is scared of being called a "snitch" in his community where that can be a very deadly label for some. Or maybe the stigma of being a rape victim has made him want to stop cooperating. We should not make assumptions and the police should not have criticized this victim in the press. Very insensitive and ignorant of the police IMO.

Posted by Facts Anonymous, a resident of Menlo Park, on Nov 19, 2009 at 9:04 pm

"Very insensitive and ignorant of the police IMO."

It's very easy to say that from the relative safety of police-protected Professorville, but why do you want to protect criminals? The police acted properly and professionally. A crime has been alleged and they must investigate it, because these people might commit more such crimes if they are not caught. Cooperation from the current victim is the cops' only possibility of forestalling further victims. If there actually was no crime the cops need to know that, too.

Posted by Anon., a resident of the Crescent Park neighborhood, on Nov 20, 2009 at 1:47 am

>>> Sgt. Jaime Romero, speaking through Acker, said he sees no reason for the public to be more than usually cautious when walking at night. <<<

Whatever the hell that means? There seems to be "relatively" a lot of crime in Palo Alto lately .... what are the chances of having problem while walking at night? How many police do we have out and how widespread are their patrols? I see lots of them parked on El Camino, but I would like to see more of them driving through the streets of the city.

Maybe videotaping people they see as well would not be a bad idea. In case something happens the tapes can be reviewed.