What Happened at the Foot of Cape May Last Week? Was It Sexual Assault or Just 2 Drunken Friends?

Site of sexual assault witnessed by neighbors.

Last Saturday, we reposted a news account from TV Ch8 about a sexual assault in OB in broad daylight that had occurred on Thursday, August 6th at the foot of Cape May Avenue. Witnesses had called police and ended up very dissatisfied with the attitude and activities of the arriving officers.

The alleged attacker was initially detained by witnesses but only hours later arrested by police and led away in handcuffs. One of the key witnesses was informed later that he was released and not charged.

There was a lot of interest in the story among our readers, so we wanted to provide an enlarged picture of what happened.

Arriving on Cape May, I found “Con” Harris who lives nearby and who had been the key witness to the incident. By profession, Con is a geologist and he’s lived in OB for 6 years. I asked him to describe what happened.

On last Thursday, the 6th, Con told me, around 12:30 in the afternoon, he had just finished doing some work from home and he wanted to get some eats, possibly walk the dog. He had called up two buddies who came over to go out to lunch with him. They hung out with Con at his beach house.

When they finally decided to go out for food, they crossed the deck and went through one of the wood gates that leads to the beach – and right there – at the edge of Con’s property, right off his deck – was a man and a woman going at it right there in the sand at the foot of Cape May.

Con and his friends were disgusted – it’s mid-day – at the beach – lots of kids around – and said some words to the couple.

“The guy pulls out, gets ready to go,” Con told me, “then we realize she’s not moving.”

The guy tries to wake her and says to her, “C’mon, let’s get going …” but she’s not responding.

The woman was completely unconscious Con and his buddies realize. This is not right. One of the buddies gets on his cell and dials 9-1-1.

The guy, Con said, starts to get out of there and hops on his bike. But Con grabs part of the bike and says,”You’re not leaving. Cops are on their way.”

“The guy is too hammered to walk,” Con said later to me, “and she’s still out.”

While Con hung onto the guy’s bike, one of the friends threw a blanket over the nude woman, and the other friend moved up the sidewalk to make sure no kids walked up on the scene.

First the Fire Department and para-medics arrive, Con recalled. The cops came quickly after that. Taking her into the ambulance, the para-medics tried to revive her. Finally, she began making noises. This was about a half hour after Con and his friends stumbled upon the couple.

The police officers also talked to her inside the ambulance.

But time kept ticking. After an hour has gone by, the guy had still not been arrested. He had been walked across the street by police and had been questioned, apparently.

Finally, very frustrated with the inaction of the cops to what Con and his friends thought was a rape or sexual assault, Con asked one of the first officers to arrive, Officer Green, why the cops had not made an arrest yet.

The officer, Con later recounted, shot back:

“I know them. What do you want me to do – take them downtown? Are you victims?”

The cop seemed pissed off at him and his buddies, Con said. His attitude sucked.

Meanwhile other neighbors had emerged to check out what was going on. There was the ambulance and 4 cop cars that arrived, Con said. Channel 8 arrived and interviewed one of the friends.

Finally, Con was so frustrated, he asked for the sergeant and ended up speaking with the one on site. “He was smarter,” Con said, “and listened to our complaints.” He asked Con and his buddies to stick around while police investigated.

It was 3 and a half to 4 hours later, Con remembered, the guy was finally handcuffed and taken away.  Later Con was told by that sergeant that the man was released without being charged.  The woman told police that she consented to the sex.

This wasn’t the last of it, though. The incident and a report was posted on one of the OB facebook pages … and Con said, “there was a lot of negative blowback. Some people questioned our actions.” Con continued, some asked why Con and his friends had blown the situation out of proportion. The facebook blew up with nasty comments.

Con admitted that he was “blown away” by some of the responses and negativity directed toward him, forcing him to defend his actions – moving on a sexual assault in the middle of the day.

The following Monday, the cops called Con and asked him to watch one of their videos and to see if he wanted to change his complaints about Officer Green. He didn’t.

We called Lt Bill Carter at Western Division for a response or update and he is what he told the Rag:

“A sexual assault did not occur. A couple of people who know each other got quite drunk. Both were arrested for drunk and disorderly. She went to detox. He went to jail.

We had body camera videos. We’re satisfied with the actions of the officers at the scene. Right now, we’re not giving it a sexual battery.”

What about it being indecent exposure? I asked.

“We didn’t see it happen. It’s a misdemeanor and the officer must see it. Otherwise people can make a citizens arrest. No one wanted to make a citizens arrest.”

Lt Carter also explained that police asked one of the witnesses to come in and view the police body camera videos – but declined.

It is true that in order for police to make a misdemeanor arrest, they must witness it. But they don’t have to witness a felony – which is what rape or sexual assault are.  And plus, someone unconscious cannot give consent.

There were 3 witnesses to something that wasn’t right.