CHICAGO (WLS) — A 19-year-old woman who says she survived a home invasion and sexual assault in Chicago’s Auburn Gresham neighborhood is speaking publicly and questioning why, she says, it took more than four hours for a Chicago police officer to respond after multiple calls to 911.
The woman, who asked ABC7 to identify her only by her first name, Yizel, said the trauma of the attack was compounded by what she described as a lengthy wait for police.
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“The only thing that was in my brain was, ‘I need to stay alive,'” Yizel said.
Yizel said a man entered her home and forced her into a bathroom.
“He grabbed me by my shirt. He lured me out of my room and into the restroom,” she said. “He had told me to not scream, to not yell, to be quiet.”
Yizel said she was raped at gunpoint and described the attack as brutal.
Afterward, she said, the attacker told her to shower. Fearing that doing so could destroy evidence, Yizel said she made a different decision.
“I turned on the showerhead, but I turned it facing the other way. I didn’t wash myself. I didn’t shower anything. I wanted to leave as much evidence as I can on me,” she said.
Yizel said the attacker took her phone and bag before leaving.
According to Yizel, her mother, her fiancé, and her landlord all called 911. She said EMS arrived first, but it was more than four hours before a Chicago police officer arrived to speak with her.
“It should not take you four-plus hours to reach me. It should have never taken anybody that long,” Yizel said.
She said she is now seeking justice on two fronts: finding the person responsible for the attack and understanding why police did not respond sooner.
“I did not feel protected, I did not feel important. I did not feel like I was being seen or heard,” she said.
Yizel said her family was able to track her stolen phone to a nearby park less than an hour after the attack. She said her landlord went to the location and believed he spotted the suspect.
According to Yizel, police were contacted again, but no officers came to investigate the location.
“He was in the area that it all took place. So, if CPD would have shown up sooner, they would have able to catch the guy,” she said.
Yizel said she decided to share her story in hopes other survivors will not face similar circumstances.
“I hope that in the future, God forbid, this happens again to anybody, male or female, they or them, you’d take it as a top-notch priority and you take it seriously,” she said.
Yizel and her family said they are in the process of seeking legal representation and plan to pursue legal action against the Chicago Police Department.
Chicago police did not comment on the timeline described by Yizel but said detectives continue to investigate.
A GoFundMe for Yizel can be found here.
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Source: abc7chicago.com
