A Democratic House candidate in Arizona has said she was attacked and sexually assaulted in August while trying to repair one of her campaign signs.
Bernadette Greene-Placentia, the Democratic nominee in the 8th Congressional District, told The Phoenix New Times Wednesday she was knocked unconscious in a Sun City parking lot while trying to fix the damaged sign in the middle of the night.
She woke up with her pants half-off and a man raping her, she said.
When a second man tried to do the same, she kicked at him and he walked away, muttering “not even worth it.”
The long-haul trucker added that she heard the man who raped her call her a “bitch” and “not a very good f–k.”
Greene-Placentia, who is challenging incumbent Rep. Abraham Hamadeh (R-Ariz.), told the New Times she frequently went out at night to repair signs, sometimes with her husband, to avoid the scorching heat during the day.
Because she was wearing a campaign shirt at the time, Greene-Placentia said her rapist may have called her a “Democratic bitch,” but she is unsure if that was the case. She claims not to remember any details post-assault, including how she got home.
“It’s just these little tiny flashes of things that I do remember,” she told the outlet. “As much as I don’t want to remember, I’ve tried very, very hard to remember more stuff. But that’s where I’m at.”
Greene-Placentia told her staff and husband of the attack two days later after sequestering herself in her apartment and going “missing in action,” according to the New Times. The Democrat waited a further two weeks to report the attack to police because she was “embarrassed.”
“I just wanted to forget it,” she told the outlet.
The attack occurred early on Aug. 14, Greene-Placentia’s campaign told The Guardian.
The Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office confirmed that her report was filed on Aug. 31, but declined to provide further details due to an “ongoing investigation.”
Greene-Placentia’s campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Post.
A police report seen by the New Times said Greene-Placentia bled vaginally for three days after the attack and she told the outlet that she went through “crying times and angry times.”
“I need to let women know that it’s okay to talk about it,” Greene-Placentia said of her decision to go public with her ordeal. “We’re asking people to stand up and donate or volunteer. We’re asking those folks to be uncomfortable … then I have to be willing to be uncomfortable too.”
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