Eight Johnson City women who are participating in a lawsuit against Johnson City over its handling of rape reports spoke at a Knoxville press conference on Tuesday to push back on public statements suggesting victims shared fault (Photo: John Partipilo)
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – Accusing Johnson City officials of victim-shaming, a group of women suing the city and multiple police officers over shoddy or corrupt investigations pushed back against public statements suggesting they deserve blame for being victims of an alleged serial rapist.
“My name is Anya and I am here today because a predator was allowed to take advantage of people in vulnerable situations far longer than should ever have happened,” said one of eight women who gathered in a Knoxville hotel meeting room to speak publicly about the case for the first time.
“I was certainly not at fault. People were scared to report to police because they had heard police were doing nothing, or worse,” she said.
The women, referred to as “Jane Does” in the lawsuit, agreed to be photographed but not identified by their full names at a news conference on Tuesday organized by their attorneys, where they took turns responding to remarks made about the case by Johnson City Manager Cathy Ball.