H 65°, L 49° | Tomorrow: 
H 60°, L 37°Two University of Wisconsin students were sexually assaulted over the weekend, in two separate incidents within three blocks of each other.
According to a police report, a slender, 25- to 35-year-old black male attempted to sexually assault a 20-year-old woman near the intersection of East Johnson and Pinckney streets around 9:30 p.m. Saturday.
A second victim was assaulted in a dark alley on the 400 block of North Henry Street around 2 a.m. Sunday. The only details in the suspect’s description were that he was wearing a black hoodie.
Madison Police Department spokesperson Joel DeSpain said both cases will most likely be assigned to the same detective to keep a closer watch for possible similarities.
In both cases, the victims agreed to further medical examination at Meriter hospital, which has a program that offers a Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner to victims.
“Usually, we suggest the victim go get a SANE examination,” DeSpain said. “Obviously, it helps us if we’re going to try to catch people with DNA evidence.”
Jill Poarch, registered nurse and SANE program nurse coordinator, said victims come to them in various ways, such as through the Rape Crisis Center, the police or on their own.
In 2007, Meriter took in 377 victims; 22 were UW students and 113 were between the ages of 18 and 29, Poarch said.
Ninety-one percent of victims treated at Meriter in 2007 were female.
When a victim is brought to Meriter for testing, they are checked through emergency room triage to make sure they have no life-threatening injuries, and then they meet with a SANE nurse and a counselor, who conducts further follow up.
Poarch said the victim is given options ranging from a simple medical examination to data collection for further investigation. She said sometimes people go through sexually transmitted diseases and pregnancy testing, while others take preventative medication before leaving.
“Before they go, we make sure they have a safe place to go,” Poarch said, adding they work closely with the Rape Crisis Center and other support programs to make sure victims are safe.
University Health Services does not conduct testing for the purposes of gathering investigative evidence but offers free HIV and STD testing and counseling.
Poarch said it is never too late to report a sexual assault or come in for testing, although it is more difficult to find DNA trace evidence 96 hours after the incident occurred.
In cases where the victim knows the perpetrator, injuries can be better evidence for criminal prosecution, Poarch said.
University Health Services refers victims to the Student Advocacy and Judicial Affairs, part of the Offices of the Dean of Students, for legal advice if they plan to take action against a perpetrator.
Poarch said preventative measures are difficult to pinpoint, but noted that consuming alcohol can increase a person’s risk of being assaulted.
“Drinking does make you sometimes not aware of risks,” Poarch said. “People don’t resist as much if they’ve been drinking.”
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�Drinking does make you sometimes not aware of risks.”
I can barely wrap my head around this statement.
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I’ve noticed something peculiar lately. The suspect is a black male, but all the women on the street are glaring at white males. Not that race really matters, but at the moment the hysteria seems pretty misguided, dontcha think?
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seriously, once again blaming the victim! I just want to say , again, I am so repulsed. Poarch says that people resist less when drinking. I’m so sorry that this person got assaulted because of drinking. It was probably her fault because she was drunk. I think this is total B.S. They cant resist? I think that this poarch person is completely forgetting that drinking is legal and assaulting young girls isn’t! seriously.
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I think the point of the statement is to say that drinking may make one more susceptible to being assaulted. I think it’s more of a warning. But the idea is, please don’t get shit-faced and walk through dark alleys… something bad could happen.
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Why do we live in a society where sexual violence and violence in general is not condemned? Why are reporters so culturally insensitive? It all makes me sick. I am sorry for the women hurt, you never deserved this.
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6:58pm, you are such an idiot! There are women who murder their own kids! And I’m not talking about abortion either. There are women who do the same despicable acts that some men do. To elevate women to the point of helpless victims is absurd. Women are just a capable of inhumane acts as men.
By the way, where is the respect due to decent men? They are the first ones all the man-haters tear into whenever they decide to piss of at someone. They do to decent men what they don’t have the guts to do to the men who deserve it.
Until women get that one fundamental principle nailed down, my support for women’s issues is reserved. Get back to me when you all have a clue.
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This article should not have ended the way it did. Risk reduction techniques are ways that may make people feel safer or more aware, however the notion that not drinking or not walking through a dark alley at night will keep you safe is completely false.
Focusing on such strategies shifts the attention onto the potential victim. What should instead be said is a message to community members and all students to be aware of anyone who looks suspicious. Asking someone if they are ok or need a cab if they look/act disoriented. Calling the police/city to make them aware of a dark alley where the street light has broken. Condemning derogatory remarks that our friends make. We are all responsible for creating a campus and a city where a perpetrator feels that it is safe to act on such horrible things. We must create a society that does NOT turn a blind eye to an environment of violence and fear. When we all take responsibility and action for our own and our neighbors actions, we will then be able to eradicate these tragedies.
P.S. More than 90% of sexual assaults are done by a person you know.