WELLINGTON, New Zealand – A man accused of physically assaulting a woman at a US research station in Antarctica was then sent to a remote ice field where he was assigned to protect the safety of a professor and three young graduate students, and he stayed there for a full week after the warrant his arrest was released, documents obtained by The Associated Press show.
Stephen Tyler Bieneman has pleaded not guilty to misdemeanor assault in connection with an incident last November at McMurdo Station, which his attorney said was nothing more than “horseplay.” The case will be heard on Monday in Honolulu.
The National Science Foundation declined to answer AP questions about why Bieneman was sent to the field in a critical security role during the investigation. The case raises further questions about decision-making in the US Antarctic Program, which is already under scrutiny.
An AP investigation in August revealed a pattern of women at McMurdo who say their allegations of sexual harassment or assault were minimized by their employers, often putting them or others in further danger.
And on Friday, the comptroller’s office that oversees NSF said it is sending investigators to McMurdo this month as it expands its investigative mission to include crimes such as sexual assault and stalking.
In their indictment, prosecutors said that late on November 24 or early on November 25 last year, a woman was sitting in a dormitory lounge waiting for her clothes when Bieneman, who had been celebrating her birthday with many drinks, entered.
McMurdo Station, United States Antarctic research station.AP
When she went to the bathroom, the woman took her name tag from her jacket as a prank and then refused to give it back, running around the end of the couch, prosecutors said.
Bieneman then took her to the floor, placed her on her back and placed her left shin over her throat as he rummaged through her pocket for a tag, prosecutors said. The woman desperately tried to communicate she couldn’t breathe, making choking motions and tapping her foot as a minute passed before Bieneman finally found the tag and removed her shin from her airway, according to the indictment.
Prosecutors said the woman visited a medical clinic.
“During a follow-up visit a week later, Victim A reported an improvement in muscle spasms, but she suffered from lack of sleep and appetite, anxiety, and depression as a result of the assault,” prosecutors said in the indictment. “Shortly thereafter, Victim A left his job at McMurdo Station.”
Bieneman’s attorney, Birney Bervar, said in an August email to the AP that eyewitnesses did not support the woman’s story and that doctors who examined her shortly after the incident found no evidence of “an assault of the nature and degree she described.”
McMurdoAP Station
Marc Tunstall, an NSF station manager who is also a Deputy US Marshal, heard about the incident on Nov. 29 and began investigating, according to prosecutors.
On December 10, two weeks after the incident, Bieneman and the scientific team flew in a Twin Otter aircraft to set up camp in the remote Allan Hills ice field, more than 100 miles (160 kilometers) from McMurdo. The team, which studies ice cores, was there to collect radar data to help select sites for future ice core drilling.
In his role as a mountaineer, Bieneman is responsible for the group’s safety in an unforgiving environment. The man initially given the role suffered a mini-stroke two days before his assignment, according to documents obtained by the AP.
Bieneman, who goes by his middle name Tyler, initially worked well with the team setting up the camp.
“However, it soon became clear that something was wrong with Tyler,” University of Washington Professor Howard Conway wrote on behalf of the COLDEX field team in a complaint to the NSF obtained by the AP.
Conway and the graduate student did not respond to AP requests for comment.
In the complaint, Conway described Bieneman as initially “dominating and critical” of two female graduate students at the camp.
“One evening in the kitchen tent during the first week, he told the graduate students that earlier in the season at McMurdo he got into a fight with a woman, where he wrestled with her, and she later had trouble breathing, and needed medical attention. ,” Conway wrote.
The professor said Bieneman portrayed himself as a victim in the incident because he was under surveillance. He said the graduate students, fearing reprisals if they revealed the story, felt they had to tiptoe around Bieneman.
“It was uncomfortable and stressful to be around him because it was impossible to feel physically or emotionally safe,” Conway wrote.
Court documents show an arrest warrant was issued for Bieneman on Dec. 12.
The professor wrote that Bieneman was finally replaced at the camp on December 19. He said they were never told Bieneman was under investigation or given a reason for him being removed from his job. They put it together later when the case became public.
“We were shocked to find that (1) Tyler was assigned to our team when it became known that he was under investigation, and (2) he remained on the field with us for a full week after his alleged assault,” Conway wrote in the complaint.
NSF said questions about Bieneman’s camp assignment are part of an active law enforcement matter and should be directed to the US Attorney’s Office in Hawaii. The US Attorney’s Office in Hawaii did not respond to a request for comment.
According to court records, when Bieneman returned to McMurdo after the camp, he was fired, given a plane ticket back to the US and arrested upon landing in Hawaii. He was later released on $25,000 bail pending Monday’s hearing.
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
