Take Some Responsibly For Yourself, Please!

Two years ago, a police officer stops a car and driver for drunken driving. The 21-year-old female passenger is also drunk but not incapacitated. She is not wanted for anything else. The cop arrests the male driver, places him in his squad, secures the vehicle, and takes the passenger to a nearby convenience store so she can call for a ride. She has a cell phone and is walking upright.

The passenger walks in and out of the store (as seen later in security cams) and seems able to walk in a straight line. She has her cell phone in her hand.

This female passenger is now complaining about the Tempe (AZ) Police Department because after the officer left to process her male drunken partner she opted to take a ride from two strangers (male and female), who then took her to a vacant house in Mesa where the female proceeded to sexually assault her. It seems it is now the cop's fault because she made some very poor choices.

The investigation later showed that she, indeed, drank to excess. She then got into a car with another drunk person who was caught driving while intoxicated. She was free to go at the scene of the stop, but was given a ride by the Officer to an open business. She then opted to get into a car with strangers instead of calling other friends or a taxi for a ride.

Those bad choices led to a very unfortunate event where she was sexually assaulted. Facts. She now wants to blame the police for her situation, when the real culprit is the assaulter. How could any cop have reasonably known that a 21 year old tipsy woman, who he left at a populated place, was going to be raped?

Before I get accused of "blaming the victim", I find the assault and the other actions of the strangers to be repugnant and well as heinously illegal. But where do we draw the line on whose life is it anyway? Who is responsible for being in this situation? Could the police officer have done something else? Of course. He could have called for another officer to provide "taxi service" to this woman. He could have had her taken to a detox facility if she was incapacitated, but didn't think she was. She was never his responsibility beyond getting her off the street to civilization where she could secure her own ride. Imagine if the police had to take responsibility for every adult they come in contact with that had too much to drink.

I suspect there is an "ambulance chasing" shyster somewhere in the mix. But I could be wrong.