wfn.org | Rape Suspect Arrested, Security Measures Are Still in Place

[PCUSA.NEWS@pcusa.org]

2-June-1998 
98191 
 
    Rape Suspect Arrested, But Added Security Measures 
    Are Still in Place at Presbyterian Center 
 
    by Alexa Smith 
 
LOUISVILLE, Ky.--The April rape of a woman leaving the Presbyterian Center 
after work and the attempted assault of a female staffer in a nearby 
parking garage has prompted officials here to tighten security on the 
building's perimeter and to study other ways to control access to the 
Center. 
 
    Louisville police have charged Damon Lewis Hall, 21, a convicted 
burglar, with the April 3 rape and robbery in a parking lot near the 
Presbyterian Center and consider him a suspect in at least two other 
downtown rapes. One woman was assaulted in an elevator of an office 
building and raped on a vacant floor in May.  Another rape occurred in a 
parking garage just over a year ago. 
 
    All of the assaults occurred in broad daylight. 
 
     Hall is currently being held in the Jefferson County Jail for an 
alleged probation violation.  The Louisville "Courier-Journal" reported 
that Hall was identified by his probation officer after police released a 
sketch of a young black man as the suspect in the April 3 rape. 
 
      Aaron Graham, information officer for the Louisville Police 
Department, said Hall is not thought to be a suspect in the attempted 
assault, though he was not in custody at the time. 
 
    "We're trying to provide as much safety as possible to employees 
without jeopardizing the friendliness of the reception of visitors to the 
building," said the Rev. Frank Diaz, interim executive director of the 
General Assembly Council (GAC), who has found himself in the middle of 
theological and security debate about the delicacy of controlling access to 
a church that is also a corporate building. 
 
    "There is a conflict between being a [downtown] business and a church," 
he said. "We have to find a happy medium between the two. We have a 
responsibility to employee safety and we must exhibit Christian character 
[in the] environment." 
 
    Since the April 3 rape of a woman who worked at the Presbyterian Center 
but who was not a member of the denominational staff, Building Manager Sara 
Sievert said a visible guard has been added to the Witherspoon Garage 
(which is directly across the street from the Presbyterian Center) during 
peak hours. The denomination has also contracted with a walking patrol to 
increase security around the Center.  Building security guards are also 
escorting women to their cars on request. 
 
    The Staff Leadership Team (SLT) is currently obtaining cost estimates 
on card access systems for doorways into primary work areas on each floor 
of the Presbyterian Center and, according to Diaz, is considering once 
again requiring employees to wear identification badges. 
 
    Having volunteer greeters to meet guests in the Center's Atrium are 
also under consideration, he said. 
 
    A badge system was briefly used  in the Presbyterian Center - under 
much protest - shortly after the national staff was downsized in 1993.  It 
was soon discarded. 
 
    "I suspect we're not going to enjoy the luxury of  free access," said 
Tina Moulton, who has been monitoring suggested security measures as 
president of the National Staff Association.  "We've had a relaxed 
approach, mostly for theological reasons.  We are a church, after all.  But 
once personal safety has been violated, not once but multiple times, you 
begin to see the reality that ... we can't maintain that freedom." 
 
    Moulton said that Hall's arrest prompted an almost  "audible sigh of 
relief" among staff members, but the association is pressing staff to 
remain vigilant. Personal safety was emphasized in safety training 
workshops conducted  in the building in late April and early May. The 
attempted assault on a female employee in another riverfront parking garage 
was stymied when she sprayed her assailant with chemical spray that, 
Moulton pointed out, had been purchased at one of the Center trainings. 
"Three weeks ago," the woman who fended off the attacker told the 
Presbyterian News Service, "I never would have had that [spray] in my 
hand." 
 
    Self-defense classes were also offered and grief counseling was made 
available in the weeks after the April rape. 
 
    Graham said police are cautioning employees of downtown businesses to 
remain wary.  "Just because we have a suspect in custody shouldn't give 
anyone the thought that they can relax, especially women," he told the 
Presbyterian News Service, adding that police are encouraging people to 
walk in groups on the street and to parked cars. 

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