NOPD investigating its alleged response to French Quarter rape report

NEW ORLEANS (WVUE) - A 911 recording from July 26 reveals the moments a woman reported a rape in the French Quarter at the corner of Toulouse and Royal streets.

On that recording obtained by Fox 8 through a public records request, a caller is heard telling a dispatcher she believes an NOPD officer is about a block away.

The dispatcher asks, “Do you think you can get that officer’s attention?”

The woman is heard asking someone for help. But it’s unclear if that person was a New Orleans police officer.

The caller says: “I’m on the phone with 911. On the next street up and on the left-hand side, there’s a woman unconscious and there’s a man having sex with her in the open.”

Over the next three minutes of the call, the woman said the person she believed was an NOPD officer didn’t budge. She also said two officers drove by without stopping. The caller became increasingly upset, and the dispatcher tried to keep her calm.

The dispatcher said: “If I could ... I can’t speak freely. I understand.”

The caller says: “It’s super dramatic. This officer hasn’t even moved and these two police officers just drove past, shined their headlights right on her and just continued to drive.”

The witness breaks down when she realizes the suspected rapist has fled.

“He’s gone and this cop is still a block away and this girl just got raped on a street corner, literally raped on a street corner, as the cops drove right past her,” the caller said.

According to the 911 log, the witness placed the call at 11:19 p.m. The dispatcher entered the call into the system at 11:21 p.m. The NOPD says the first responding officer arrived three minutes later.

The victim did regain consciousness. The NOPD says the victim is not cooperating with investigators. The department also says its Public Integrity Bureau has opened an investigation into how officers responded to the rape. But so far, the NOPD says it hasn’t identified any officer who it says responded improperly.

See a spelling or grammar error in our story? Click Here to report it. Please include the headline.

Copyright 2022 WVUE. All rights reserved.