Arizona congressional candidate Bernadette Greene-Placentia claims she was raped while repairing campaign sign

EDITOR’S NOTE: This story contains graphic details of sexual violence.

Bernadette Greene-Placentia, a candidate for US Congress in Arizona, claims she was raped by two men while repairing one of her campaign signs.

Greene-Placentia said it happened on Aug. 14 around 2 or 3 a.m. in the Phoenix suburb of Sun City, according to a Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office incident report shared by her campaign.

Greene-Placentia reported the incident to the sheriff’s office more than two weeks later, on Aug. 31, according to the report.

“When this first happened, I didn’t want to tell anyone,” she told The New York Times on Wednesday. “I was embarrassed that I couldn’t defend myself,” she said.

CNN has reached out for comment from Greene-Placentia. The sheriff’s office is investigating the case, it announced Wednesday.

The Democratic candidate for Arizona’s 8th Congressional District, which includes parts of Phoenix and nearby areas including Sun City, was installing and repairing political signs and was struck in the back of the head by two strangers as she returned to her vehicle. the incident report states. Greene-Placentia lost consciousness and did not remember how she was hit in the head or how many times, according to the report, which said she and investigators were unable to determine the exact location of the attack.

She woke up to the pain felt by one of the men concluding sex while holding her down, according to the report. She “described having bruises on her arms after being held down.”

The other man then raped her, the report states. She said she also remembers seeing her feet as she fought back by kicking.

Greene-Placentia does not remember what the men looked like or what they were wearing, according to the report.

“She only remembers that one of them wore black boots and had small feet,” the incident report states.

She reminded investigators that one of the men said “democracy bitch” at one point during the incident, the report states. But on Wednesday, she said she couldn’t be sure what she heard, according to the New York Times.

The incident report states she did not take any photos of the bruises on her body or the bump on her head after the incident.

She told deputies that “immediately after the sexual assault, she went home and took three showers and a bath.” Greene-Placentia did not go to the hospital or take a Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner (SANE) exam.

“I asked Bernadette if there was any DNA left on her clothes, and she stated that she had since washed the clothes,” an investigator wrote in the incident report.

The two men remain “genuinely unknown,” the report added.

“I look back and wonder why didn’t I go to the hospital?” she told CNN affiliate KNXV. “I always considered myself a strong person and so I was embarrassed.”

The Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office followed up with Greene-Placentia on September 1 and she provided more details about her injuries.

She explained that she was struck on the left side, the back of her head, which had a large dent. She also had three vertical bruises that appeared to be in the shape of a hand on her left arm, according to the report.

Greene-Placentia also said she had vaginal bleeding for two to three days after the assault. She also told the sheriff’s office that her attackers may have been white men.

“She does not remember if the male subjects left on foot or got into a vehicle,” the incident report states.

According to the report, she did not tell anyone about the incident until two or three days later, when she spoke to her husband, Alexander Placentia, and two campaign staffers.

After initially being reluctant to speak out, Greene-Placentia felt she would be a “hypocrite” if she didn’t do so publicly, she told the New York Times.

“I don’t want my campaign to be about that,” she told the newspaper, “but women need to know they can come forward.”

“Speaking publicly about what happened has been incredibly difficult for Bernadette,” campaign spokesman Craig Beckman said in a statement to CNN on Wednesday. “She chose to share her story because she knows many survivors struggle in silence, and she hopes that by speaking out about her experience, others will know they are not alone. »

Greene-Placentia’s political opponent, outgoing U.S. Rep. Abraham Hamadeh, said in a statement to the Times that law enforcement should “thoroughly investigate these serious allegations, including finding every possible camera footage of the time and location, in order to prosecute the crime to the fullest extent of the law.”

Greene-Placencia told KNXV she hopes speaking out will help other survivors.

“I believe very strongly in women’s bodily autonomy and I was angry that these men were using their physical size to take away that autonomy from me,” Greene-Placentia said. “As I spoke, I took it back.”

Help is available: For help in the United States, call the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-4673 or chat 24/7 at online.rainn.org.