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Woman Raped At Gasparilla, Jailed On Warrants
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Posted by: Rick Sample

TAMPA - A 21-year-old woman who reported to police on Saturday that she had been raped during the Gasparilla parade spent the weekend in jail after officers arrested her on two outstanding felony warrants.
After learning more about the circumstances today, Tampa police met with Circuit Court Judge Walter Heinrich to allow her to post bail on the warrants, which were issued in Sarasota County, police said.
“She will get out of jail this afternoon,” police spokeswoman Laura McElroy said.

The police department has a policy against arresting victims of violent crime on misdemeanor warrants, but it does not make such a distinction for felony warrants, McElroy said.

“It’s rare in police work that someone isn’t arrested on a felony warrant, but you always want to have compassion for a victim,” she said. “This may be a case where we need to revise our policy.”

According to McElroy, the woman, who lives in Temple Terrace, attended the parade Saturday with several friends but broke off from the group about 1:30 p.m. She told police she was walking north on Howard Avenue and was near Swann Avenue when a man grabbed her, dragged her behind a building and raped her.

The woman continued to walk back to her car, parked at the University of Tampa, where she met with a friend and explained what had happened, McElroy said. They then called police to report the rape.
Officers took the woman to a medical office on Busch Boulevard to be examined by a nurse, McElroy said. “In the process, they realize she’s wanted,” she said.

McElroy said police are trying to get to the bottom of why the arrest occurred. Detectives are eager to speak to the woman; her mother and her attorney have asked detectives to wait to speak to her until she is out of jail, McElroy said.

“We’re concerned about this girl’s welfare,” McElroy said. “We still have several questions about how this happened.”
McElroy said police received no other reports of sexual assault connected to the parade.