DA's office admits mistakes while UH police stay quiet on handling of campus rape suspect

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- A week after a University of Houston student was raped on campus, the two agencies responsible for arresting and prosecuting the suspect are giving very different responses to questions about what happened.

On Friday, Feb. 7, a 21-year-old student was sexually assaulted in the UH Welcome Center Parking garage.

RELATED: University of Houston student sexually assaulted at knifepoint in parking garage, police say

Since then, questions have grown on how suspect Eric Brown was arrested that same night but released the day after.

RELATED: UH sex assault suspect was released from custody before he was charged, records show

On Friday, District Attorney Sean Teare sat down for a one-on-one interview and said his intake division made some mistakes in handling the case.

"What we had happen is a set of failures all the way from law enforcement agencies to us. Failures we had inside, in our processes and training, are being looked at, and we're going to fix them," Teare said.

Teare said Friday night, UH police officers happened upon Brown on campus and used a Taser on him. Brown was reportedly combative and elbowed one of the officers trying to arrest him. In the initial call to Harris County District Attorney's intake division, Teare says the UH officers focused on the assaulting a peace officer charge and only mentioned the sexual assault as an aside. He says officers did not specifically ask for a sexual assault charge. However, Teare says his staff should still have flagged the case.

"We should have had a more experienced prosecutor highlighted to look at the case. There were a lot of things internally that we're going to look through and fix, but the bottom line is he was released," Teare said.

Teare also says his department has a specific sexual assault hotline staffed by high-ranking prosecutors, but for whatever reason, UH Police did not call the hotline when they had Brown in custody.

"We have a dedicated phone number for sexual assault prosecutors that is 24 hours a day manned. Most of the large (police) agencies reach out to that number. In this case, that didn't happen. Our prosecutors from our adult sex crimes reached out to UHPD because they saw the news."

Teare says they are instituting new training to make sure his staff knows to flag sexual assault cases even if officers do not call the felony sex crimes hotline.

ABC13 repeatedly contacted UH officials, asking them to confirm, deny, or explain their version of events and what went wrong.

UH said nobody could answer questions on camera, and only written statements would be released.

The university released a statement Friday afternoon, but it did not address any of the issues raised by concerned students and prosecutors this week.

Read their statement below:

"UH and the Harris County District Attorney's Office are working together with a shared focus on apprehending Eric Brown to bring him to justice heinous sexual assault a UH student last week. We best serve and protect our communities by holding offenders accountable, ensuring that all crimes are thoroughly investigated and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

We are committed to continue to strengthen our coordination with the Harris County District Attorney's Office and other local law enforcement agencies to enhance our collective response to criminal activity. We are joined by regional law enforcement agencies, which are actively collaborating to take Brown into custody."

The lack of response isn't sitting well with State Representative Jolanda Jones, a UH alumni who represents the area in the Texas Legislature.

"It's a concern for me because I've had people call my office," Jones said. "They're really upset, and they don't feel safe."

Jones says she wants to hear from UH officials because students are not feeling safe. Some are even skipping evening classes.

"If there is expanded law enforcement presence, it's not working," she said. "We need to figure out a community-oriented way to make the kids feel safe."

Jones says she is scheduling an emergency town hall meeting next Friday to hear student concerns. She hopes all relevant law enforcement and university officials will attend and answer student questions.

Meanwhile, there is a warrant out for Brown's arrest. He remains on the loose.

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