CW: rape

I’ve waited this whole election for anyone in LA media or politics to mention Councilman Ryu’s arrest for attempted rape of an unconscious woman at age 27, before the case was dismissed for unknown reasons.

There are so many questions. Nobody has asked them. So I will:

Before I get into this: yes, I’m one of Ryu’s opponent’s supporters. This story is one of the biggest reasons why I feel, so desperately--so personally--that we cannot have David Ryu representing us on City Council.

This story is not a secret. Most of it is laid out in this LA Times article. It's also available in the original charging documents (which I'll post below). And it’s on his Wikipedia page! https://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-ryu-attempted-rape-charge-dismissed-20150420-story.html

But still, the vast majority of people in LA don’t know about it, because nobody was really paying attention to city races when the story first came out.

Many more are now.

Here are the facts we know. (major cw)

In August 2002, Ryu and some friends were out at a bar. He had gone there with a date.

At some point, the date went outside and found Ryu in the back of a car with another woman.

The woman in the car, according to the original date and the woman herself, was extremely drunk.

Someone called the police, but no arrests were made that night.

The next day, both women went to the hospital for the alleged victim to get examined. She confirmed that she had been drunk and didn’t remember what happened. (this is important)

A complaint was filed, and Ryu was ARRESTED AND CHARGED with Attempted Rape of Unconscious Person. Here’s the charging document, which Sarah Kate Levy helped make public during her primary campaign:

The LA County DA's office considered this case serious enough to set bail for Ryu at $50,000. He was ordered to have no contact with the alleged victim.

2 months passed. Then the case was dismissed. The DA’s office said they were “unable to proceed in the statutory period.”

The assistant DA who brought the case, now a judge, says she doesn’t remember why it was dismissed or anything else about it. The judge in the case also says he doesn’t remember anything.

It could have been dismissed for any number of reasons, including the witness or alleged victim not being willing to testify.

Here’s what Ryu’s lawyer says happened:

Ryu and the alleged victim had gone to the backseat of a car “seeking privacy.” Then they were found there by his ORIGINAL date, who “jumped to a grave and devastating conclusion.” Presumably the conclusion was that she was witnessing an attempted rape.

The lawyer also says “conflicting evidence” emerged in the case, he said “A medical exam gave no reason to indicate the victim had been unconscious.”

I'd like to unpack this a bit...

Ryu's lawyer never denies a sexual encounter occurred between Ryu and the victim. The ONLY "conflicting evidence" he presents is that there was no proof the victim was actually (as she stated on the record) blacked out.

There is no medically-sound way to prove or disprove that.

There's no blood alcohol test that can reveal whether someone was blacked out (and def not one administered hours later) because what it takes for someone to black out is different for everyone. You can also be too drunk to consent without being entirely unconscious. Consent 101.

The other thing the lawyer could be implying here is that there was no physical proof of struggle, which as we know, is not an automatic indicator of rape.

I've been raped twice. Once I struggled, once I didn't. Neither time would hold up in court. That's not what happens.

The alleged victim said she was drunk when Ryu was found with her -- too drunk to remember what happened. Ryu’s lawyer is claiming that a “medical exam” somehow revealed that she was not telling the truth.

This “exam” is the main piece of evidence used to show Ryu’s innocence.

So Ryu’s team called 1 woman wrong, & the other a liar.

They’re saying BOTH women told false stories as Ryu was charged with attempted rape, & then stuck to them for 2 whole months while charges were being brought, before they were finally proven wrong by "conflicting evidence"

(by the way, that "conflicting evidence" was never mentioned by the prosecutors in the dismissal)

Ryu’s lawyer also said a different female witness came forward with information that “cast doubt on the interpretation and memory” of what happened that night.

But when the article came out, Ryu’s team said they was unable to put the reporter in touch with ANYONE who would corroborate his innocence except his lawyer.

Ryu’s alleged victim has not come forward. Neither have any witnesses.

Ryu just says he didn’t do it. He has never provided more information on what happened. He says he doesn’t want to “disrupt the lives” of the women involved, though nobody is asking him to identify them.

I've actually asked him about it in meetings. He said it didn't happen.

It’s very possible that either the alleged victim or the witness decided that they didn’t want to testify. That would lead to the case being dismissed. Neither has come forward since the initial charges, so we don’t know.

And that's entirely up to them. They don't owe anyone.

But nobody has come forward to say Ryu was innocent, either. And THAT is something that Ryu & local media owes the constituents of CD4 as we face a choice whether to re-elect him this November or replace him with a progressive woman of color who spent years working on this issue.

Not long after the story first broke, Ryu won his election. Turnout was low: he won with about 7% of registered voters. Many likely were not aware of the story.

Since then, it's been considered “settled.” No elected official has brought it up.

16 of 18 LA electeds are men

Here's a question Ryu has never answered, because no one has asked:

If you're innocent, are you saying you had consensual sex and the woman then lied and said she'd been unconscious? Or that you were just sitting in the backseat of a car with an unconscious woman?

Which is it?

It makes me sick that a story like this one, that at minimum raises ENORMOUS questions about an extremely powerful person’s conduct, could be published in a major newspaper and then just disappear.

And that so many Democrats who cared about Kavanaugh don't care about this.

It makes me sick that the culture of silence & mutual protection at LA City Hall is so impenetrable that not one of Ryu’s fellow Councilmembers has ever even raised a question about this story. Instead, they promoted him to leadership & they all endorsed him in his current race

The silence around sexual violence & harassment at City Hall doesn’t just apply to David Ryu’s case. He’s one of *four* recent CMs who were credibly accused of sexual misconduct. Several of those cases led to settlements. Not one city elected has ever mentioned those stories.

Don't tell me this case is settled because it was dismissed. Rape cases that were caught on video have been dismissed. Both of mine would be dismissed. Rape cases that the accused confessed to have been dismissed. In Ryu’s case, we don’t even know what happened.

All we have is Ryu’s word and his lawyer’s. Nobody else is saying anything. And so far, nobody is asking them to.

@AlpertReyes wrote the original LA Times Article which is super important, but since then no one has touched it

Here are the male LA elected officials who should be asked their thoughts on the fact that four councilmembers, including two they currently work alongside, have been accused of sexual harassment or rape:
@MayorofLA @CityAttorneyLA @LAController @CMGilCedillo @PaulKrekorian

@BobBlumenfield @PaulKoretzCD5 @mhdcd8 @CurrenDPriceJr @HerbJWesson @mikebonin @MitchOFarrell @JoeBuscaino

It's honestly heartbreaking to see how much this doesn't matter to people. Nithya Raman was a leading official at Times Up and David Ryu was literally arrested for rape.

How anyone who has ever pretended to care about women could be undecided, let alone vote for Ryu kills me.

What's so complicated about this is that in many ways it's not my story to tell. But no one else will say a goddamn word about it, and it reminds me so much of my own stories and the stories of my friends who have survived rape and assault.

So someone had to bring it up.

It matters.

We matter.

Don't we?