Tampa Police Rape Victim Second Time

It's bad enough to be a rape victim, but do the police have to do it again?-babel Your Thoughts?

TAMPA — A 21-year-old Florida woman who sought help from police after reporting that she had been raped instead was arrested and spent two days in jail for failing to pay a three-year-old restitution order.

A jail worker later refused to give her a second dose of an emergency contraceptive because of religious convictions, said Vic Moore, the college student's attorney. She was released from jail Monday only after Moore went to the media.

"Shocked. Stunned. Outraged. I don't have words to describe it," Moore said Tuesday of his client's arrest and following treatment. "She is not a victim of any one person. She is a victim of the system. There's just got to be some humanity involved when it's a victim of rape."

The woman is not being identified because police are investigating a sexual assault.

Tampa police said Tuesday they were changing their policy to give officers more discretion on when to arrest a crime victim who has outstanding warrants.

"Obviously, any policy that allows a sexual battery victim to spend a night in jail is a flawed policy," police spokeswoman Laura McElroy said. "So our city attorney is writing a new policy right now."