A young female sexual assault victim forced to face her assailant on a daily basis seemingly is being ignored by national women’s rights groups and several of Michigan’s high-ranking female politicians. Several media inquiries to these individuals and groups last week remain unanswered.
MeTooMvmt.org and WomensMarch.com have not responded to requests from The Midwesterner for comment, nor have Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, Attorney General Dana Nessel, U.S. Sen. Debbie Stabenow, U.S. Rep. Elissa Slotkin, and Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson.
The female – identified as E.M. in court documents – is a student at Mason High School. Her assailant – called B.D. in court documents – was expelled after a May 2022 incident in middle school when he forced his hand beneath her sweatpants and underwear and penetrated her digitally without her consent and another incident four days later.
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In the latter incident, according to court documents: “BD sat next to E.M. again on May 16, 2022, in a different classroom and once again pulled up a chair and tried to perform the same act, rubbing E.M.’s upper/inner thigh on the outside of her pants. E.M. abruptly got up and moved away without B.D. saying anything to her.”
Although B.D. was expelled, his well-known and politically connected parents – Ingham County Clerk and former state Rep. Barbara Byrum and Ingham County Deputy Sheriff Brad Delaney – petitioned successfully for his reinstatement.
The school implemented a no-contact order between E.M. and B.D. upon the reinstatement of B.D., which E.M.’s attorney Brandon Wolfe alleges in a lawsuit filed in federal court “essentially treats E.M. as if she was equally blameworthy for the incident in the 8th grade and precluded her from traversing down certain hallways, hanging around classrooms or lockers of B.D., avoiding face-to-face contact, and to avoid contact with each other during passing time, lunch time, or extracurricular activities.”
Mason High School enrollment is only 1,013 students.
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As a result, Wolfe’s complaint asserts, “E.M. continues to see B.D. daily in the halls, lunchrooms, and extracurricular activities for school … [E]very day is a constant reminder of being sexually assaulted in the 8th grade and the mental anguish from that embarrassment.”
Wolfe also noted the reinstatement of B.D. directly violates a personal protection order by Ingham County Circuit Court Judge Richard Garcia, in which he noted: “B.D. poses a credible threat to the physical safety of E.M. and interferes with E.M.’s place of education or engaging in conduct that impairs her educational relationship or environment.”
According to Wolfe, a formal hearing was recently held and the PPO was reinstated again on January 19, 2024.
Thus far, the only response received by The Midwesterner came from MeTooMvmt.org. In its email, the organization stated: “Thank you for sending us your message. When we say ‘we see you, we hear you, we believe you,’ we mean it. We are fortified by every ‘thank you,’ and we feel the weight of every story and every request for help. We’re a small but mighty team so if you don’t hear from us within 3-7 days, please know we’re trying our best to get to your message. If you need any immediate assistance, you can reply to this email with your question.”
The Midwesterner’s response to the email was marked undeliverable.