Sex battery case dismissed against former Jacksonville Firefighter of the Year

A former Jacksonville Firefighter of the Year arrested last year and scheduled for trial this week has been absolved of his sexual battery charge, court records show.

Vincent Anthony Harper, 50, was arrested on July 16 accused of raping a woman with mental health issues and intellectual disabilities who had just left UF Health without the hospital's consent. Friday the court accepted the the decision of the State Attorney's Office to discontinue its intent to prosecute.

“The elements of the state’s case changed in such a way that we could not meet our burden beyond a reasonable doubt at trial,” State Attorney’s Office spokesman David Chapman said afterward.

Harper, who was released on $250,000 bond the day after his arrest, told the Times-Union he plans to comment at a later date. His attorney didn't offer a comment but said he would speak with Harper and get back to the newspaper.

The case began on June 18 when a woman was reported as a possible endangered runaway at UF Health. She had been under a Baker Act provision for individuals deemed in crisis due to mental illness with the potential of harming themself or others, a summary of the findings said.

She told police she got into the vehicle of a man later identified as Harper who saw her and offered a ride. She initially declined but got in after he said he wouldn't touch her, according to the arrest report. He also let her use his phone to call her sister and then drove her to a house off 21st Street. She said that's where he forced himself on her. He later asked her where he could take her, and she said to the Sheriff's Office where her sister was supposed to pick her up.

He dropped her off nearby, and from the Sheriff's Office she was returned to UF Health where she reported the sexual battery, the report said. Security video corroborates some of the accounts with her getting into Harper's vehicle and when she was dropped off. Her sister gave police Harper's phone number from her cellphone caller ID.

When he was contacted, he told detectives he was driving on Eighth Street when the woman threw her hands up at him. He turned his vehicle around and parked on the side of the road where she asked to use his phone to call her sister. She told him she was jumped, her shoulder was hurting and her cousin had kicked her out, according to what he told police in the report. She said she had nowhere to go and was hungry.

He said he took her to his home to shower and gave her a "TV dinner." He said they watched TV in bed and she stated she needed to find a place to stay and needed $300, according to the report. He said he did not have that, and she started to “rub on him.” He asked if she wanted sex to stay there, but she responded, “I don’t know.” He said she soon took off her clothes and they had sex.

Afterward she said she needed to go downtown to meet her sister. When they got in his vehicle, he said she asked him for money so she could eat, according to the report. So he stopped off at an ATM to get her $40 and dropped her off downtown.

Both Harper and the woman's sister confirmed the sister confronted him over the phone after she learned of the sexual battery report. She told police he denied having sex with her sister. He said it was not rape and did not tell her the sex was consensual because he did not want to tell her sister's business. He also said she did not appear to have an intellectual disability and they were having normal conversations, according to the report.

Case dropped: New developments allow former Jacksonville firefighter charged in rape to go home

The investigation revealed that the woman suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder and is classified as intellectually disabled with an IQ of 52. A sexual assault exam also was requested but not conducted due to staff being backed up with appointments, according to the arrest report.

On Jan. 3 in preparation for trial, Special Victims Unit Division Chief Erin Wolfson spoke with the woman’s most recent caseworker. The caseworker advised she has been living in a particular group home since early December. She suffers from depression, severe mood swings and behavioral issues, including a more recent escape from the group home. The caseworker confirmed her low IQ but said she can present herself as a competent adult depending on her state of mind, according to the State Attorney's Office.

"It should be noted that of the various individuals (police officers, detectives, and medical staff) who have met with the victim, there are conflicting views of how she came across in conversation and interactions with these parties," the State Attorney's Office summary says. "Some have advised in deposition that she came across as having an obvious disability, while others described her as seeming normal. The victim’s diagnostic paperwork is however clear that she would meet the legal criteria of a mentally defective person. The caseworker also advised the victim recently had been having more behavioral issues at the group home including several issues regarding the victim’s ability to tell the truth."

The caseworker also advised she believed having the victim testify in a trial could be potentially detrimental to the woman based on her recent issues.

"Ultimately, based on the above-described recent developments, there is no reasonable probability of a conviction in the instant case," the State Attorney's Office concluded.

Fire engineer Vincent Harper credited with saving captain’s life

Harper was recognized as a hero when he and Jacksonville Fire and Rescue Department Capt. Latorrence Norris were attacked in October 2019 by a man they were trying to help.

Harper was driving a rescue unit with Norris when they responded to a call to help a 38-year-old who was complaining of abdominal pain, fire officials said. The man was initially calm on the way to the hospital but then lunged at Norris in the back of the ambulance.

In the ensuing struggle, the patient took the box cutter Norris had in his pocket and began to cut him in the upper chest and abdominal area puncturing a lung, the fire chief said at the time.

Daniel Evans: Former Jacksonville firefighter convicted of rape, attempted murder of woman leaving club

Harper heard the fight in back and stopped. He threw himself “in harm’s way” to help his partner, suffering a deep gash on his right thigh before police arrived to fully subdue their attacker, Chief Keith Powers said at the time.

The next year the department honored Harper with the 2019 Joseph F. Stichway Award as Firefighter of the Year. Powers said he endured one of the “most terrifying and ultimately challenging scenarios ever witnessed,” calling it a literal life-or-death struggle. He credited Harper for “preventing a fellow firefighter from perishing in an unpredictable random act of violence.”

This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Rape case dismissed against Jacksonville Firefighter of the Year