Ohio University Police Chief Criticizes Crowd For Filming Apparent Sexual Assault Instead Of Stopping It

Images and video from an alleged sexual assault that happened on an Athens, Ohio street last weekend have been making the rounds on social media, and Ohio University's police chief has condemned bystanders for filming the attack instead of alerting authorities.

OU student newspaper The Post reports that Police Chief Andrew Powers said documentation of the alleged crime on social media could help hold the perpetrator responsible for something he might have otherwise gotten away with.

"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," Powers told the newspaper.

The alleged attack happened during the university's homecoming weekend.

The female victim came forward to file a rape complaint after seeing a video on Instagram that showed a man performing a sex act on her in front of Chase Bank on Court Street, the small college town's main drag.

Buzzfeed has posted various tweets and screenshots of the Instagram video. Many of these posts have since been deleted.

It's unclear if the man or woman in the video are OU students. Vice President for Student Affairs Ryan Lombardi said in a text message to Business Insider that the alleged assault occurred off campus and that the university will do anything it can to support the individual involved.

The response on social media has been mixed, with many students appearing not to take the alleged assault very seriously:

"Everybody laughs when a guy gets head in the middle of a fest, but everybody raises hell when a dude eats the box on Court Street"

- OU Confessions (@OU_Confessions) October 14, 2013

did anyone else witness the girl getting chowed on court street last night?

- Kyle Thompson (@Kyle_Thompson21) October 13, 2013