Women file new lawsuit over sexual assault investigations

Five women have filed a new federal lawsuit over the way authorities investigate sexual assaults in Baltimore County after a judge dismissed their previous complaint.

The amended complaint filed this week says the county has shown a pattern of discrimination against female complainants, which “includes witness intimidation and destruction of evidence.”

In September, U.S. District Judge Deborah K. Chasanow dismissed a lawsuit filed by the women last year, writing that it was an “overambitious pleading” and that the plaintiffs hadn’t shown they had a case on various claims.

The judge’s ruling allowed them to file an amended complaint. All the women had ties to the University of Maryland, Baltimore County and said they were sexually assaulted by students there in separate incidents. The Baltimore Sun does not identify victims of sexual assault.

The new complaint seeks to more clearly contrast the way police investigate sexual assaults with the way they look into other crimes that do not disproportionately affect women. For instance, the lawsuit alleges that county police destroyed the rape kits of 650 women between 2010 and 2018.

“No such bias is shown when compared to the crimes of simple or aggravated assault, as shown by BCPD evidence retention policies,” the lawsuit states. The lawsuit also claims that UMBC has mishandled reports of rape at the expense of female complainants and concealed incidents of sexual assault.

In a statement, UMBC spokeswoman Lisa Akchin said that attorneys were still reviewing the new filing but that school officials are “committed to acting on our conviction that sexual and gender-based violence will not be tolerated in our community.”

The new lawsuit names most of the same defendants as before. They include Baltimore County, its police department and a number of police officials; UMBC and President Freeman Hrabowski; UMBC Police Chief Paul Dillon; State’s Attorney Scott Shellenberger and Assistant State’s Attorney Lisa Dever.

Baltimore County spokesman Sean Naron said the county doesn’t comment on pending cases, but is “committed to ensuring every sexual assault survivor is treated fairly in Baltimore County.”

Shellenberger also declined to comment on the new lawsuit.

Chasanow initially gave the women three weeks to file the amended lawsuit, but later extended the deadline.