A Custer County, S.D., woman has sued Sheriff Marty Mechaley, Deputy Matthew Tramp and other members of the sheriff’s office for violating her civil rights through their negligence in protecting her from a known threat. Harry David Evans was sentenced to life in prison earlier this year for kidnapping and raping the woman in 2017. Before that, he’d been arrested for violating a restraining order forbidding him from contacting the woman. On the night of the rape, he sent her threatening messages. She called the sheriff’s office but hung up after being on hold for 10 minutes, according to the lawsuit. She then called the Hermosa town marshal, but a dispatcher told the marshal the sheriff’s office was handling the call and called him off. The woman called the sheriff’s office again but was once more placed and hung up. Finally, Tramp, who was on duty, called the woman. But after she complained that no one was coming to help her, “Tramp simply ran out his shift and returned home,” according to the lawsuit. A couple of hours later, Evans broke into the woman’s home and raped her.
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