Ex-Stanford swimmer accused of raping unconscious woman

Ex-Stanford student Brock Turner faces rape charges. Ex-Stanford student Brock Turner faces rape charges. Photo: Casey Valentine / Stanfordphoto.com Photo: Casey Valentine / Stanfordphoto.com Image 1 of / 3 Caption Close Ex-Stanford swimmer accused of raping unconscious woman 1 / 3 Back to Gallery

(Editor's note: This article began circulating via social media on April 6, 2019. The story originally ran on Jan. 27, 2015.)

A former Stanford University student and star swimmer will be charged with rape after he met a woman at a campus party and assaulted her as she lay intoxicated and unconscious outside, Santa Clara County prosecutors said Tuesday.

The district attorney’s office said two students on bicycles stopped to help after finding freshman Brock Allen Turner, 19, on top of the woman in the early morning hours of Jan. 18 on Lomita Court, near fraternity houses on university grounds.

“She was lying on the ground unconscious, not moving,” said Deputy District Attorney Alaleh Kianerci of the alleged victim, who is not a student.

The men on bikes restrained Turner, even as he tried to get away, and called police, Kianerci said. The woman, she said, was taken to a hospital and treated for her injuries.

“She’s recovering,” Kianerci said.

The district attorney’s office said it will file five felony charges against Turner on Wednesday: one count of raping an unconscious person, one count of raping an intoxicated person, two counts of sexual penetration with a foreign object, and one count of assault while attempting to commit rape.

If convicted, Turner faces up to 10 years in prison, Kianerci said. He was arrested after the alleged attack and later posted $150,000 bail. He is scheduled to be arraigned Monday.

On Tuesday, as prosecutors announced their decision to charge him, Turner withdrew from school, university officials said. They said he’s no longer allowed on campus.

“Matters like this the university takes seriously,” said Lisa Lapin, a Stanford spokeswoman.

Efforts to reach Turner and his family were not immediately successful Tuesday.

The alleged rape comes as universities across the country face scrutiny for the prevalence of sexual assault on campus, with critics saying they don’t do enough to stop it.

Last year, California became the first state to pass legislation that shifted the standard of consent for sexual activity at colleges from whether a person said no to whether both partners said yes. The “yes means yes” law applies only to campus disciplinary hearings, not to state criminal proceedings.

Stanford, which has been among the universities criticized for lax policies on sexual assault, has recently tried to do more to combat the problem, said Michele Landis Dauber, a law professor at the university who urged the school to make changes.

Between 1997 and 2009, just four of 175 reported sexual assaults were formally adjudicated at Stanford, with two of the alleged attackers held responsible, according to a report prepared by Dauber. She called the statistics “appalling.”

The numbers have improved as the university made its reporting process more welcoming to victims and showed greater follow-through with investigations, she said. There’s still room for improvement, though, she added.

Turner, who worked as a lifeguard, was a heavily recruited athlete before joining Stanford’s high-powered swimming program, ranked 10th in the nation. He had been a dominant swimmer at Oakwood High School in Dayton, Ohio, twice winning the state championship in the 200- and 500-yard freestyle. He also took part in the 2012 U.S. Olympic trials.

Chronicle staff writer Tom FitzGerald contributed to this report.

Kurtis Alexander is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. E-mail: kalexander@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @kurtisalexander