Insult to injury: Alleged sex assault victim claims she also faced police brutality
A San Antonio mother says she was raped. But she says that's not how she got horrific bruises and broken facial bones.
"They held me down on the floor naked and screaming," Rebecca Gibson said. "They are supposed to be the people that help, and they did more damage than any help."
The 29-year-old said she was kidnapped and sexually assaulted by two unknown suspects. Then when officers responded, she said she was treated inhumanely.
She said she went to her boyfriend's northwest-side home to look for her daughter the day after the rape. She says they got into a fight, and when officers responded, they found her naked and crying in a closet.
She said that's when they failed to follow protocol. Gibson said she asked for a female officer to help her because she had no clothes on. Instead, Gibson said an officer struck her.
"I said I didn't have any clothes on," Gibson said. "He came into the closet and punched me."
Gibson has hired a lawyer to follow up on the case.
"The aggressiveness and hostility toward this victim, it doesn't seem appropriate when dealing with sexual assault victims," said Augustin Arredondo Jr., Gibson's attorney.
Gibson said she was handcuffed even though she was still naked and taken to University Hospital.
According to hospital documents provided by Gibson's lawyer, "an ER nurse also reports the police officer was talking about it in a proud manner that he had hit her."
The San Antonio Police Department confirms that there is an ongoing internal affairs investigation.
On Monday night, the department released this statement:
"The preliminary investigation reveals an officer responded to the location for an individual refusing to leave. This individual appeared to be intoxicated and aggressive. After a brief struggle with police, she was subdued. During that struggle she was struck in the face. EMS arrived and she continued to be combative, refusing to cooperate. She was transported to a local hospital and released to their care."
"We take all allegations seriously and investigate them thoroughly," SAPD Sgt. Chris Benavides wrote in an email to KENS 5.
Meantime a rape kit has been administered, and the victim is waiting on DNA results.