ANCHORAGE, Alaska – Authorities have dropped the charges against an Alaska Regional Hospital security guard who was accused of sexually assaulting a teen in the hospital’s emergency department waiting room.
John Giacalone was arrested in mid-July, after a 17-year-old girl told police she had been sleeping in the hospital’s waiting room when the guard shook her awake and led her to an office where he allegedly sexually assaulted her. Giacalone had been charged with first- and second-degree sexual assault as a result.
Eric Derleth, Giacalone’s attorney, said authorities “jumped the gun” when charging the security guard, as the alleged victim’s stories were full of contradictions, ADN.com reports.
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Video footage showed that the girl was actually at the hospital with a friend and the friend’s mother, who allegedly left the girl where when she passed out in a chair and couldn’t be roused.
The teen woke up around 2 a.m., according to video footage, after another security guard, not Giacalone, approached the girl to wake her up after she had fallen on the floor. A minute later, Giacalone arrived, but hardly glanced at the girl, according to Giacolone’s attorney.
The video showed Giacalone offering the girl water several minutes after she had fallen. By that time, she was awake and sitting erect in a chair.
Video footage also captured a woman and a young girl dancing in the waiting room, even though the accuser said she was in the room alone when Giacalone allegedly shook her.
Derleth noted that the girl failed to identify Giacalone in a lineup of six suspects. He also believes the teen was high on drugs.
It is unclear if the state will bring new charges against Giacalone.
