Students

Ohio University Student Falsely ID'd As Subject of Sexual Assault Photo; Facing Continuous Harassment

By

Ohio University (OU) community members have apparently decided that Rachel Cassidy, a sophomore studying journalism, is the subject of the viral photo/video allegedly depicting a sexual assault.

According to OU student newspaper the Post, Cassidy has been harassed online and in person. She said she was notified by a friend that her photo had been posted online linking her to the person in the viral photo with all her contact information listed as well.

"Wednesday night, my friend called me and said there were pictures posted of me linked to the woman in the video saying I was her, although that's untrue," Cassidy said. "I was nowhere near where the incident occurred (Saturday). I have no idea why I was targeted."

OU Dean of Students Jenny Hall-Jones also said Cassidy is "100 percent" not the woman involved in the photo and video posted last Sunday.

The Post reported that, since a meeting with school officials and campus police, Cassidy has not left her Alpha Omicron Pi sorority house. She has also deleted all her online accounts because she has received continuous negative messages.

"[They didn't know] how many people would end up knowing about it or thinking it was me, so this is the first time I've been out of my house in two or three days," Cassidy said Saturday. "I wasn't even doing anything related to Homecoming having fun, so that's annoying. I was probably asleep in my bed when this happened, and now I'm being blamed for it."

Last Sunday, onlookers gathered when a man and woman were engaging in a sexual act in public. OU freshman Vance Blanc took a photo and someone else recorded a video. Both were posted online and taken down shortly after. After BuzzFeed posted an edited version of Blanc's photo, it went viral.

The day after the incident, the woman from the video filed rape charges, but her name has been withheld to protect her identity. However, for unknown reasons, that has not stopped people from attempting to leak the name of a person who had zero involvement in the issue.

"You hope that nothing ever happens to your child," Steve Cassidy said. "You can't imagine, ever, that something could happen. It's not your child, and somehow she's misidentified as being a part of the incident. It goes around the globe on the Internet. The venom is horrific."

OU Chief of Police Andrew Powers pointed to a different issue at the heart of the entire ordeal. The fact that so many people were watching a wrongful act and decided to document it instead of alerting authorities.

He told the Post: "What is more disturbing are the social implications of what it means for someone to have been standing there watching this thing happen, videotaping it with their phone instead of getting involved and trying to help the victim."

© 2024 University Herald, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Join the Discussion
Real Time Analytics