Pueblo, CO — A domestic violence victim has found out the hard way that calling 911 for help is a crap shoot. After an unnamed victim had been beaten by a male assailant, who she had a restraining order against, she called the police. When police showed up, they arrested her attacker and left. However, hours later, Cpl. Benjamin Candelaria, 48, would return, cover his body camera, and sexually assault the victim, according to a recent arrest report.
On Friday, Pueblo police arrested one of their own after he was was accused of sexually assaulting the victim he was supposed to be helping.
According to KOAA, officer Candelaria, along with other Pueblo officers, were called to a report of domestic violence between a man and a woman early Thursday morning. After a brief investigation, the officers arrested the man on domestic violence and violation of a protective order charges. Court documents say all of the officers left the residence, but Candelaria returned shortly thereafter to finish paperwork.
According to the arrest report, ‘paperwork’ was the last thing on Candelaria’s mind. The next day, the woman went to Parkview Hospital and claimed that she’d been sexually assaulted by a police officer. However, her memory was limited because she’d been hit in the head with a wrench, beaten, knocked unconscious, and was intoxicated.
Amazingly enough, the Pueblo police department immediately opened an investigation and pulled officer Candelaria’s body camera footage. Police quickly found that the body camera footage corroborated the victim’s story.
