Isaac Hale, Daily Herald file photo
Children navigate a NinjaCross aquatic obstacle course at the Provo Recreation Center on Tuesday, Sept. 22, 2020.
Provo city attorneys met Tuesday afternoon to discuss a lawsuit against the city from a female former employee who claims she was harassed and raped in the parking lot of the Provo Recreation Center.
According her attorney, the pool employee had reported multiple unwanted advances and harassment from a male patron while working at the city-run facility during her shift in July 2020.
“Despite repeated calls for assistance, the employee received no recourse for the situation and was raped around 10 p.m. in the backseat of her car while she tried to leave her work premises for the evening,” according to a statement from Erika Larsen, the victim’s attorney.
In a brief response to the alleged incident, Provo City released the following statement:
“The safety of Provo City employees is of utmost importance to us, with protection protocols in place. While we have not yet received the lawsuit and cannot comment specifically, what has been reported to us as being included seems to involve some different perspectives than came out in our civil and criminal investigations following an earlier claim. Once we have seen the specifics in the lawsuit, we will reopen the investigation to try to resolve those differences.”
According to Larsen’s statement, “Earlier that day, the victim had received various unwanted looks, comments, and actions by a male patron throughout her shift. The victim approached her supervisor and said there was a ‘man staring at me constantly and making me feel uncomfortable.’ The pool supervisor responded that she didn’t know what to do about it, leaving the girl without a remedy.”
The victim reportedly walked out to her car in the “dimly lit” parking lot, according to Larsen, and noticed a man walking toward her wearing a blue Provo Recreation Center shirt. When the man was close enough, she recognized him as the same man who allegedly harassed her during her shift.
“The victim tried to escape, but the perpetrator overpowered her and forced her into the back of her car where he raped and sexually assaulted her. When the victim later attempted to investigate the identity of the perpetrator, she was told by Provo City that they did not have any surveillance footage of the parking lot where the assault occurred,” Larsen wrote in her statement.
The victim is currently pursuing legal action against Provo City for failing to protect her from sexual harassment and sexual assault while on the job.
The law firm Steele Adams Hosman, located in Salt Lake City, is representing her claim. Larsen said in her statement that this is a case in which “Provo City failed in several respects to protect one of their own employees from a young woman’s greatest nightmare. Provo City had multiple opportunities to protect their employee, but instead they repeatedly chose to do nothing.”