Shreveport, LA (KTBS) -- A Centenary College student, Jane Doe, claims she was the victim of a sexual assault on campus. According to her, authorities did not rule her case as a sexual assault. Today, she is speaking out in hopes her situation will help other young girls make better choices.
Doe claims the assault happened after a night of excessive drinking.
“I don't remember what I drank. I ended up getting pretty incapacitated,” said Doe. “It got to the point where my date had to take my shoes off of me because I could no longer walk in them, but I couldn't take them off myself."
Toward the end of the night she needed to get back to her dorm room, so she asked someone she trusted.
"He was always really great with women and things like that,” Doe said. “It never occurred to me that I shouldn't let him walk me back to my dorm."
The male student took her back to her room and left. But later that night, Doe started getting sick. She said she asked him to come back to her room. That’s when things got physical.
"I remember him getting into bed with me,” she said. “I remember him starting to kiss me. I remember trying to lean away."
Doe said the male student suggested they leave the room because her roommate was also in the room.
This is where she says the situation took a turn for the worse.
"I remember him being like, 'Let's go to the bushes,'” she said. “I remember thinking why are we going to the bushes. I wouldn't go to the bushes in plain daylight."
Doe said she told the young man, "No." That’s when she claims he guided her toward the kitchen and assaulted her.
"He pulled me in his lap,” she said. “He was talking to me and he was like, 'We should talk about what just happened.'"
Doe filed a report with campus police the next day. She says she was questioned and told to go to the hospital for tests, including toxicology.
Forensic nurse Olivia Jones said Doe did everything she was supposed to. Should anyone find themselves in a similar situation, a victim should first speak with a sexual assault advocate when going to a hospital.
“Their three rights are: They can report to police, they can do nothing and get medical care from the emergency room physicians, and they can also have a blind report," Jones said.
A blind report means a victim can have all evidence collected and held for up to a year, should the victim choose to later come back and involve law enforcement.
When determining if someone was coherent enough to say no, intoxication plays a big role.
"Alcohol does get out of your system over time. However, law enforcement has algorithm’s that they can calculate," said Jones. “Say we see the patient 4 to 5 hours after the incident. They have been drinking all night. They (police) can figure out from the time we drew it. We write down the time we draw the labs, to determine what their alcohol level was however many hours prior."
While everyone's body processes alcohol differently, adults have 120 hours to submit any evidence. The sooner the better.
Sexual assault reporting is common on college campuses.
At Centenary College, there were 9 reported assaults from 2015 through 2017. At Louisiana State University in Shreveport, there was one reported on campus in 2015. From 2016 to 2017, LSUS reported 4 rape cases on private property.
While Doe’s case is still considered an open investigation, she said she was notified by the district attorney’s office that no criminal charges would be made against the male student because she was coherent enough to say no at one point.
Despite that ruling, it doesn't change what Doe believes was an attack.
"It had such a big impact on my life,” said Doe. “I started having daily panic attacks. I would blame myself for it and all these sorts of things. It was a horrible incident for me.
KTBS reached out to Centenary College. They would not speak about the case, but said the allegation was reported to campus police and the school conducted an internal investigation. The college handed its findings to the district attorney's office.
KTBS 3 learned that the student was on campus during the investigation, but may have been prohibited from playing sports.
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