A California police officer who is the star of the Netflix series “American Nightmare” has come under fire on social media for his suspicious response to a kidnapped and raped woman.
The Vallejo Police Department and the detective in charge of the Dennis Haskin kidnapping case were targeted after a documentary portrayed them as failed cops who were more concerned with blaming the victim than solving the crime.
“How does it feel to be publicly shamed and humiliated?” asked a commenter from Alabama.
“It’s not funny when the shoe is on the other foot, right?” The serial rapist showed more sympathy for his victims than your police. Let that sink in. ”
The series tells the story of Haskins and her then-boyfriend Aaron Quinn.
On March 23, 2015, Haskins and Quinn were blindfolded and drugged by a man who broke into Quinn’s home.
Ms. Haskins was then abducted and taken to a cabin in Lake Tahoe, where she was raped.
Police and FBI footage obtained by Netflix shows Detective Matt Mustard brutally grilling Quinn to death in an interrogation room. Meanwhile, Haskins was stuffed into a trunk by sociopaths and taken to Utah.
Incredibly, Mustard, who was named Officer of the Year, neglected to even check Quinn’s cell phone, which had been ringing by the kidnapper.
Online commenters were most shocked by comments made by Haskins’ mother, Jane Lemere, about Mustard, who said her daughter had previously been the victim of sexual assault.
Ms Mustard said abused women often fake another assault “to relive the thrill”.
“Officer of the Year?” a woman from Massachusetts posted. “May you be stripped of this title and all titles in the coming months. May your family turn against you and may you spend the rest of your life in misery and loneliness.” Don’t let Detective Mustard’s daughter become a victim of sexual assault, because we all know she suffers in silence.”
Eventually, Matthew Mueller, a Harvard-educated lawyer and military veteran, was arrested after a Lake Tahoe police officer found Haskins’ hair in the cabin of a ship, blindfolded and covered in goggles. He was sent to prison for that crime.
Haskins and Quinn, who eventually married, settled a lawsuit with the city of Vallejo and police department for $2.5 million.
The Vallejo Police Department’s Yelp page has been disabled due to “unusual activity.”
A Change.org petition calling for Mustard’s resignation has garnered 2,700 signatures.
