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Crime & Safety

Police Officers Left Rape Victim Unprotected

An arbitrator has ruled that the Tisbury police chief was right in 2011 when he disciplined an officer who left four minor children at a crime scene where one was subsequently raped at knifepoint, according to the Martha's Vineyard Times.

"Substantial lack of judgement."
"Neglect of duty."
"Tragic."

These are some of the words with which an arbitrator explained her 16-page ruling that upheld disciplinary action against a Tisbury police officer, according to the Martha's Vineyard Times.

Officer Scott Ogden was suspended for five days without pay and another Tisbury police officer, Sgt. Robert Fiske, lost his job in the aftermath of in which a teenaged babysitter was raped at knifepoint in front of three younger children, Times reporter Steve Myrick writes in "Arbitrator rules Tisbury chief correctly disciplined officer."

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Ogden and Fiske were among officers responding to a report that David Thrift had attempted to rape the teenager and beaten his wife when she stopped him, the Times reports.

But the policemen left the girl and three young children alone to search for Thrift, who then returned and raped the girl brutally in front of the children, the Times reports.

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"While she called it an important point, the arbitrator said even when not serving as the officer in charge, a police officer cannot act mindlessly and suspend common sense," Myrick wrote.

Fiske's dismissal was earlier upheld by arbitration and Thrift was given a 10-13 year sentence for rape of a child, Myrick writes in the Times. 

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