Monday, February 27, 2012

UNH Massage Therapist fired for groping student


via WMUR - David Blair was arrested on a misdemeanor charge of sexual assault. Over the weekend a female student reported the assault from a massage therapist at the UNH Health Services Department and is no longer employed there. Blair passed a background check when he was hired two years ago.

So how are all those gift certificates for massages guys got for their ladies on Valentine's Day looking now? All I really have to say is  good for the victim for contacting authorities quickly. Many times incidences like this go without anyone speaking up so hopefully this was the first time Blair ever acted in this way. This is a serious account, so I will refrain from referencing the SNL Celebrity Jeopardy "therapist" joke and simply link to it.

18 comments:

  1. Don't support UNH they did not do their policy in contacting the police NOR the victim. They let her walk out the building in historically traumatized. They were well aware of the situation due to David admitting it and they let a sex offender walk away with no consequences but loosing a cheap weekend job.

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  2. How do you know this? Do you have any more details to how it happened and how UNH and health services acted immediately? Did they just ignore her and it took her to contact authorities? That is a big story and news outlets should be reporting on that.

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  3. Police are aware, a case is being taken place. Information can not be opened. UNH and Health services did not do their job by protecting students. The victim had to do it on her own after David admitted to his horrific actions.

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  4. As UNH student I am well concerned about the information I have come across. UNH is not safe anymore.

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  5. This really shouldn't be talked about, it is not up for a discussion it's a private matter.

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  6. This is a major story and needs to be examined to see what went wrong and why so things like this won't happen again. It has already been mentioned in Foster's and WMUR. People deserve to know the truth, but not necessarily all the details.

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  7. I would say that's a pretty harsh accusation. What you are missing is the fact that it is the victim's decision to report the incident. It is common for bystanders to immediately jump to starting an investigation and punishing the perpetrator. But sometimes that's not the best thing for the victim,every survivor is different. Some merely want to forget the situation and move on and others seek legal action, the road to recovery is different for everyone. What bystanders often fail to see is the fact that investigations of sexual assault are incredibly invasive and sometimes can injure the survivor's mental state even further. That's why most sexual assault cases go unreported. It is important to remember that survivors of sexual assault have experienced a terrible act in which they were not in control of the situation. In order to restore that lost sense of control, it is ONLY under the discretion of the victim (generally speaking,there are always exceptions and I'm not well versed in minors but I'm sure there is a different set of rules that apply) that the perpetrator is reported to the police and an investigation is started. Any advocate for victims of sexual assault will tell you the same thing. I find it hard to believe that Health Services would ignore a victim and brush them off (especially because there is overwhelming evidence that victims of assault are rarely lying... I'm pretty sure they have that fact listed on the Health Services site) I believe the misunderstanding here lies in the fact that it is ONLY the survivor who can make the decision to move forward with an investigation. Sexual assault cases are incredibly confidential and the University cannot move forward on the victim's behalf. Only the state of New Hampshire can move forward in an investigation, again, only at the victim's discretion (again, generally speaking of course)

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    1. I agree. We need to use common sense. Bystanders don't always understand what's going on, and over reacting can also lead to trouble. Every case is different!

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    2. This was a crime. It should have been reported to the police. It is not up to the health services to decide IF police should be called. It is up to them to protect the students.

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  8. "Referencing" is not commonly an acceptable use of the word, "reference". Reference is typically a noun, not a verb. You might have said, "Instead, I will give reference to the SNL clip."

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  9. Because this man is an employee of UNH and placed a UNH student in danger- this becomes a public issue. The public deserves to know that this man acted in an inappropriate way.

    The victim's identity should be kept private unless they decide to come public.

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  10. We understand that this information is shocking to our UNH community. Sadly, we also know that these cases are not isolated and the effects run very deep. As an office, we would like to remind everyone that SHARPP is available to support anyone who has been affected (directly or indirectly) by this information. We have highly trained, confidential advocates available at all times on our confidential 24-hour support line. Our office will be open Monday- Friday from 8-4:30pm for walk-in visits and support line calls. We will also have an advocate available today (Tuesday) from 12:40-2:00pm and Thursday, 7:00-8:00pm in an online chat room to provide additional support.

    Sincerely,
    Amy Culp
    Direct Services Coordinator
    On behalf of the SHARPP staff and volunteers

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  11. Court date March 22 for this sick man

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  12. Why is it so easy for us to assume guilt. Whatever happened to "inocent until proven guilty"? If he made an inappropriate advance, did she indicate that to him? If she did and he continued, a pox on him and throw away the key. If she did and he appologized and thought that settled it, he should have gone to authorities immediately afterward and reported the incident to protect himself.
    I am saddened by all of the uninformed judgement going on here.

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  13. Follow the case! He is guilty and yes it was stopped by a courageous girl.

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  14. Because this girl being so courageous... more victims have now come forward so enough with the what about "Innocent until proven guilty." She is the one who is innocent.

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  15. For those who doubted.......more charges were made against this creep...JAIL for him! UNH should be ashamed.

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