Tell Maine: Take Attempted Sexual Assault More Seriously

My friend was assaulted on an Amtrak train in Maine. A man made lewd sexual comments, touched my friend, and after attempting to put my friend's face in his lap, made more lewd sexual comments and began groping my friend. My friend is small, disabled, and was unable to fight off the attacker.

The Amtrak police were contacted and my friend, who would like to remain anonymous but I will herein refer to as “Sam” was told that the perpetrator would be convicted of assault with sexual intent. The state of Maine did not treat it as such.

Amtrak refused Sam's request to refund only half the ticket Sam paid for.

Sam already had to deal with PTSD, Autism (Aspergers), and ADHD. Now Sam is dealing with severe PTSD from the attack and a fear of trains. Sam couldn't even see or hear the word “train” for weeks without experiencing severe panic attacks followed by depression.

Sam received no compensation after the attack and the attacker didn't even face jail time. What did happen? The attacker had to pay a $500 fine to the state of Maine.

Sam's reaction on the ruling. “It feels like the state of Maine decided that I'm not worthy of being considered human. Hearing this was the decision that they came to caused me to end up feeling very depressed. It took my friends several hours to pull me out of it.”

In Sam's own words, “The state of Maine lets down sexual assault victims too often. I feel like maybe they should try to think, what if it was their child. They would definitely try to push for something else.”

It's time to take a stand. Tell Maine to take attempted sexual assault more seriously!

Maine State Senate,


We urge you to take attempted sexual assault more seriously. Citizens of your state should have the right to feel safe from bodily harm at any time. Attempted perpetrators should serve jail time. If they are to pay a fine, it should be to the victim, not the state.


Signed,


We The People

Update #18 years ago
Hello everyone! I want to thank you all again for signing this petition. It really means a lot to Sam and to me. Unfortunately, it isn't gaining a lot of traction here, so I've also published the petition on Change.org.

You can find the new petition here: https://www.change.org/p/maine-state-senate-take-attempted-sexual-assault-more-seriously

I hope that you will consider signing and sharing the Change.org petition as well.

Thank you and have a great day!

Jourden
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