Arizona congressional candidate says she was raped while repairing campaign sign

Diannie Chavez/The Arizona Republic/USA Today Network/Imagn Images

EDITOR’S NOTE: This story contains graphic details of sexual violence.

A US congressional candidate in Arizona, Bernadette Greene-Placentia, says she was raped by two men while she was repairing one of her campaign signs.

Greene-Placentia said it happened August 14 around 2 or 3 a.m. in the Phoenix suburb of Sun City, according to an incident report from the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office shared by her campaign.

Greene-Placentia reported the incident to the sheriff’s office more than two weeks later on August 31, according to the report.

“When it first happened, I didn’t want to tell anybody,” she told The New York Times on Wednesday. “I was embarrassed that I couldn’t defend myself,” she said.

CNN has sought comment from Greene-Placentia. The sheriff’s office is investigating the case, it said Wednesday.

The Democratic candidate for Arizona’s 8th congressional district, which includes parts of Phoenix and nearby areas including Sun City, was out putting up and fixing political signage and was hit in the back of her head by two unknown men while walking back to her vehicle, the incident report says. Greene-Placentia lost consciousness and does not recall how she was hit in the head or how many times, according to the report, which says she and investigators have not been able to determine the exact location of the attack.

She woke up to the pain of one of the men concluding intercourse while holding her down, according to the report. She “described having bruises on her arms from being held down.”

The other man then raped her, the report says. She said she also recalls seeing her feet as she fought back by kicking.

Greene-Placentia does not remember what the men looked like or what they were wearing, according to the report.

“She only recalled one of them wearing black boots and having small feet,” the incident report reads.

She recalled to investigators that one of the men said “democratic b*tch” at some point during the incident, the report states. But, on Wednesday, she said she could not be sure what she had heard, according to The New York Times .

The incident report says that she did not take any pictures of the bruises on her body or the bump of her head following the incident.

She told deputies that “immediately after the sexual assault, she went home and took three showers and a bath.” Greene-Placentia did not go to a hospital or get a Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner (SANE) exam.

“I asked Bernadette if there was any DNA left on her clothing, which she stated she has washed the clothes since then,” an investigator wrote in the incident report.

Both men remain “truly unknown,” the report adds.

“I look back and it’s like, why didn’t I go to the hospital?” she told CNN affiliate KNXV . “I’d always considered myself a strong person, and so I was embarrassed.”

The Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office followed up with Greene-Placentia on September 1, and she provided more details of her injuries.

She explained she was struck on the left side on the back of her head, which had a significant bump on it. She also had three vertical bruises that appeared to be in the shape of a hand on her left arm, according to the report.

Greene-Placentia also stated she experienced vaginal bleeding for two to three days following the assault. She also told the sheriff’s office her assailants may have been White males.

“She did not recall if the male subjects left by foot or got into a vehicle,” the incident report says.

According to the report, she did not tell anyone of the incident until two to three days later, when she talked to her husband, Alexander Placentia, and two campaign staff members.

After the initial reluctance to speak out, Greene-Placentia felt she would be a “hypocrite” if she didn’t go public, she told The New York Times.

“I don’t want my campaign to be about this,” she said to the newspaper, “but women need to know it’s OK to come forward.”

“Speaking publicly about what happened has been incredibly difficult for Bernadette,” campaign spokesperson Craig Beckman said in a statement to CNN on Wednesday. “She chose to share her story because she knows many survivors struggle in silence, and she hopes that by speaking about her experience, others will know they are not alone.”

Greene-Placentia’s political opponent, incumbent US Rep. Abraham Hamadeh, said in a statement to the Times that law enforcement should “investigate these serious allegations thoroughly, including finding all possible camera footage of the time and place, in order to prosecute the crime to the fullest extent of the law.”

Greene-Placencia told KNXV she hopes speaking out will help other survivors.

“I believe very strongly in women’s bodily autonomy, and I was angry that these men used their physical size to take that autonomy from me,” Greene-Placentia said. “Speaking up was me taking it back.”

Help is available : For help in the US, call the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-4673 or chat 24/7 on online.rainn.org .

CNN’s Michael Williams and Andy Rose contributed to this report.

黛安妮·查韦斯/《亚利桑那共和报》/今日美国网络/Imagn Images

编者按：本文包含性暴力方面的详细描述。

美国亚利桑那州国会候选人伯纳黛特·格林-普拉森西亚称，她在修理竞选标语牌时遭到两名男子强奸。

格林-普拉森蒂亚表示，这起事件发生在 8 月 14 日凌晨 2 点或 3 点左右，地点位于凤凰城郊区的太阳城。她的竞选团队分享了马里科帕县警长办公室的一份事件报告。

据报道，格林-普拉森西亚在两周多后的 8 月 31 日向警长办公室报告了这起事件。

“事情刚发生的时候，我不想告诉任何人，”她周三告诉《纽约时报》。“我当时很尴尬，因为我无法为自己辩护，”她说。

CNN已联系格林-普拉森西亚寻求置评。警长办公室周三表示，他们正在调查此案。

据事件报告称，亚利桑那州第八选区（包括凤凰城部分地区及周边地区，如太阳城）的民主党候选人格林-普拉森西亚当时正在张贴和维修竞选标语，在返回车辆的途中，遭到两名身份不明的男子袭击，头部后方被击中。报告指出，格林-普拉森西亚随后失去意识，不记得头部是如何被击中的，也不记得被击中了多少次。报告还称，她和调查人员目前都无法确定袭击发生的确切地点。

据报道，她醒来时感到疼痛，原来是其中一名男子在按住她的情况下结束了性交。她“描述说，她的手臂上有被按住造成的瘀伤”。

报告称，另一名男子随后强奸了她。她说，她还记得自己踢腿反抗时，看到了自己的脚。

据报道，格林-普拉森西亚不记得那些男人的长相或穿着什么。

事件报告中写道：“她只记得其中一个人穿着黑色靴子，脚很小。”

报告称，她向调查人员回忆说，事件发生过程中，其中一名男子曾说过“民主党婊子”之类的话。但据《纽约时报》报道，周三，她表示自己无法确定听到的内容。

事件报告称，事发后她没有拍摄身上的瘀伤或头部肿块的照片。

她告诉警员，“性侵发生后，她立即回家，洗了三次澡，还洗了一次。”格林-普拉森西亚没有去医院，也没有接受性侵犯护士检查员（SANE）的检查。

“我问伯纳黛特她的衣服上是否还残留着DNA，她说她之后已经把衣服洗过了，”一名调查人员在事件报告中写道。

报告还指出，这两名男子仍然“身份不明”。

“现在回想起来，我就想，我当时为什么不去医院呢？”她告诉CNN附属电视台KNXV。“我一直认为自己是个坚强的人，所以当时我很尴尬。”

9 月 1 日，马里科帕县警长办公室对格林-普拉森西亚进行了回访，她提供了更多关于自己受伤情况的细节。

她解释说，她的后脑勺左侧遭到重击，留下了一个明显的肿块。报告还显示，她的左臂上有三处垂直的瘀伤，形状像一只手。

格林-普拉森西亚还表示，袭击发生后的两到三天里，她出现了阴道出血。她还告诉警长办公室，袭击者可能是白人男性。

事件报告中写道：“她不记得这些男子是步行离开还是乘车离开的。”

据报道，她直到两三天后才将此事告诉任何人，当时她与丈夫亚历山大·普拉森西亚和两名竞选工作人员谈了这件事。

格林-普拉森蒂亚最初不愿公开表态，但她告诉《纽约时报》，她觉得如果不公开表态，自己就会成为一个“伪君子”。

“我不想让我的竞选活动围绕这件事展开，”她对报社说，“但女性需要知道，站出来是可以的。”

“对伯纳黛特来说，公开谈论所发生的事情极其艰难，”竞选发言人克雷格·贝克曼周三在给CNN的一份声明中说。“她选择分享自己的故事，是因为她知道许多幸存者都在默默承受痛苦，她希望通过讲述自己的经历，让其他人知道他们并不孤单。”

格林-普拉森西亚的政治对手，现任美国众议员亚伯拉罕·哈马德在给《泰晤士报》的一份声明中表示，执法部门应该“彻底调查这些严重的指控，包括找到当时和地点的所有可能的摄像头录像，以便依法对犯罪行为进行最严厉的起诉。”

格林-普拉森西亚告诉KNXV电视台，她希望自己的发声能够帮助其他幸存者。

格林-普拉森西亚说：“我坚信女性拥有身体自主权，这些男人利用他们的体型优势剥夺了我的这种自主权，我对此感到非常愤怒。我挺身而出，就是为了夺回它。”

可以获得帮助：在美国，如需帮助，请拨打全国性侵犯热线 1-800-656-4673 或访问 online.rainn.org 进行 24/7 全天候聊天。

CNN的迈克尔·威廉姆斯和安迪·罗斯对本报道亦有贡献。