wfn.org | Safety Stressed After Presbyterian Center Worker Is Raped

[PCUSA.NEWS@pcusa.org]

7-April-1998 
 
98129   Safety Stressed After Presbyterian Center Worker 
    Is Raped 
 
    by Alexa Smith 
 
LOUISVILLE, Ky.--Police have released a sketch of a  young black male who 
robbed and raped a woman leaving the Presbyterian Center early in the 
afternoon April 3. 
 
    The victim, a 32-year-old white woman, began working in the 
Presbyterian Center just two days before the rape occurred, though she is 
not a member of the denomination's staff. 
 
    "It is disheartening that we live in such a time that, even in broad 
daylight, no one is safe," the Rev. Frank Diaz, interim executive director 
of the General Assembly Council (GAC), wrote in a memo to Louisville 
personnel.  He encouraged staff members to "be very careful" walking to 
automobiles parked near the center and even to local restaurants. 
 
     "Please," he said, "do not walk alone." 
 
    The rape occurred about 2 p.m., according to Aaron Graham, information 
officer for the Louisville Police Department.  He said the victim was 
approached by a black man in his mid-20s who forced her into her car, hit 
her in the face, demanded money, tied her hands with her  panty hose and 
raped her once.  After the attack, she drove to the Presbyterian Center for 
assistance. The $1 bill the victim had in her purse was stolen. 
 
    Graham said police intend to circulate the composite sketch of the 
assailant in offices near the parking lot where the rape occurred.  The 
city-owned lot is directly across the street from the Witherspoon Garage, 
which is in front of the Presbyterian Center. 
 
     Graham described the attacker as a clean-shaven black man in his 
mid-20s with a medium build and short black hair.  He has a gold upper 
tooth. He was unknown to the victim and was reportedly unarmed. "We really 
haven't had any incidents like [this]," Graham told the Presbyterian News 
Service, adding that a rape in broad daylight is especially unusual. 
 
     "The crime rate," he said, "in the downtown area is traditionally very 
low.  It still is." 
 
    Noting that hundreds of the Presbyterian Center's 600 employees park in 
lots within walking distance of the Center, the denomination's property 
services director, Bill Gatewood, told the Presbyterian News Service that 
employees "need to be open" to security issues within the building and 
around its perimeter.  "The Main Street/riverfront area [where the center 
sits] is the fastest growing area downtown," said Gatewood.  Development of 
the waterfront area has greatly increased traffic, he added.  "The more 
people, the more opportunities for crime." 
 
    Humana Inc., the healthcare giant that owns the three-tiered 
Witherspoon Garage, allots only 270-plus spaces to employees of the 
Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). 
 
    The Presbyterian Center's Staff Leadership Team and Staff Association 
organized a protection training program, which is slated for employees 
April 15 and April 23.  A question-and-answer session on security concerns 
will be held April 14.  Further, some counseling services will be available 
for particularly anxious employees.  The denomination had just hired a new 
building security service, which began work April 4, the day after the 
assault. 
 
    "Even though [the victim] was not an employee of the PC(USA), our 
concerns are still the same, without a doubt," said Gatewood.  "We'll do 
anything we can to support her and make resources available to employees 
here.  But we do not want to be alarmist." 

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