It's disgusting': Loopholes remain in North Carolina's sexual assault laws
Leah McGuirk was partying at a bar in Charlotte, North Carolina, a year ago when something felt wrong, she said. Her vision turned blurry, her arms and legs went limp — her friend thought she was having a seizure.
McGuirk was adamant she was not intoxicated. But later, thinking back, she realized she had turned away at the bar as she was digging through her purse, and believes someone drugged her drink at that time.
The incident was upsetting enough that she shared her story on Facebook. Then, she began getting random messages from other people who believed their drinks were spiked at that same bar. While McGuirk was not sexually assaulted and had no idea who was responsible, she still decided to contact the police and file a report.
"I felt like there needed to be a paper trail," McGuirk, 32, said Friday.
In a statement provided to NBC Charlotte at the time of the alleged incident, the general manager of the bar said, "We have been working closely with CMPD [Charlotte-Mecklenberg Police Department] since our inception to ensure the safety of our patrons ... we will continue to make safety a priority.
Unbeknownst to McGuirk at the time, she had no recourse: The law in North Carolina doesn't consider her to be the victim of a crime.
But that could change under House Bill 393, which would make it illegal to tamper with someone's drink, regardless of whether or not they were sexually assaulted — one of two bills seeking to modernize North Carolina's sexual assault laws in the era of #MeToo.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/its-disgusting-loopholes-remain-in-north-carolinas-sexual-assault-laws/ar-AABdyd7