Tailhook '91 Victims & Assaults | The Navy Blues | FRONTLINE

FRONTLINE

(Documentation is from the Department of Defense Inspector General report, February 1993)

VICTIM NUMBER 50

Status/Service/Rank:	Lieutenant (0-3) United States Navy/Female
Date/Time of Incident:	Saturday, September 7, 1991 11:30 p.m.
Place of Incident:	Hallway, Third Floor, Las Vegas Hilton

Victim 50 is LT. Paula Coughlin.

At the time of Tailhook '91, she was aide

to Rear Admiral John W. Snyder, United States

Navy, Commander, Naval Air Test

Center.

According to LT. Coughlin, she arrived at the third

floor hallway of the Hilton Hotel alone at approximately

11:30 p.m. Saturday evening. She entered the hotel

from the pool patio through the doors at the main

passenger elevators, turned

right and proceeded up the hallway.

As she approached the hallway, she found it to be loud and

rowdy. Both sides of the hallway were lined with men leaning

on the walls. As she began to walk up the hallway, there were

approximately six to eight of the young men on each side of

the hallway and two in the center of the hallway. Each had

their backs to her at the head of the group. As she attempted

to pass the man on the right side-the man intentionally bumped

into her with his right hip. LT. Coughlin excused herself, and

one of the men lining the

hallway yelled loudly, "Admiral's Aide!"

LT. Coughlin turned to look at the man who yelled. She

described the man who had first bumped into her as having dark

skin with short dark hair, perhaps Hispanic or a light skinned

black. She was grabbed by the

buttocks with such force that

it lifted her off the ground and ahead a step.

LT. Coughlin turned around and yelled at the man, "What the

f-- do you think you are doing?" As she said that, she was

grabbed on the buttocks by someone from behind. She turned

and asked that individual the same question. The men

in the group began grabbing her breasts

as well as her buttocks.

LT. Coughlin described the assault as follows:

"The man with the dark complexion moved in immediately behind

me with his body pressed against mine. He was bumping me,

pushing me forward down the passageway where the group on

either side was pinching and then pulling at my clothing. The

man then put both his hands down the front of my tank top and

inside my bra where he grabbed my breasts. I dropped to a

forward crouch position and placed my hands on the wrists of

my attacker in an attempt to remove his hands... I sank my

teeth into the fleshy part of the man's left forearm, biting

hard. I thought I drew blood... I then turned and bit the man

on the right hand at the area between the base of the thumb

and base of the index finger." The man removed his hands, and

another individual "reached up under my skirt and grabbed the

crotch of my panties. I kicked one of my attackers ... I felt

as though the group was trying to rape me. I was terrified

and had no idea what was going to happen next."

LT. Coughlin attempted to escape into one of the

administrative suites, but her route was blocked by men who

stood in the doorway and would not allow her through. The men

in the crowd continued to grab at her buttocks and breasts,

and she noticed that one of the men in the crowd turned and

began to walk away. "I reached out and tapped him on the

right hip, pleading with the man to just let me get in front

of him. The man stopped, turned ... and pivoted to a position

directly in front of me. With this action, the man raised

both his hands and put one on each of my breasts."

LT. Coughlin broke free and ran past him into an open door

that led to one of the administrative suites. She sat in the

room in the dark, "attempting to understand what had happened

to me ... I was appalled not only by the brutality of the

incident, but the fact that the group did that to me knowing I

was both a fellow officer and an admiral's aide."

According to one witness, a male Federal Government civilian

employee, "I remember Coughlin enter the hallway. Coughlin

stood in the hallway for a couple of minutes and then

proceeded down the hall. As she advanced through the area,

the gauntlet collapsed around

her blocking her from my view. I recall Coughlin wrenching

around as she disappeared from sight.

I never saw her exit

the gauntlet." There were approximately

100 men in the hallway

at the time, none of whom the witness recognized.

A male Navy lieutenant stated that he saw a woman walk into

the crowded hallway. He saw her get pinched on the buttocks

by an unknown male. As the woman turned to confront the man,

another male from the other side of the hallway pinched her on

the buttocks. During the confrontation, he heard someone yell

"Admiral's Aide!" Later, when the witness saw LT. Coughlin on

television, he realized that she was probably the woman he

witnessed being assaulted in the hallway.

Another male Federal Government employee witnessed part of the

assault on LT. Coughlin. The witness saw a man standing in

the hallway whom he described as the "master of ceremonies."

The man appeared to be moving about in an animated fashion,

trying to get women to walk through the gauntlet where the men

in the hallway would then surround them. If a woman did not

want to walk down the hallway, the man would physically pick

them up and carry them down the hallway. The witness saw LT.

Coughlin conversing with the "master of ceremonies," and it

appeared that she was telling him she was a lieutenant and an

admiral's aide. The witness saw a man come up behind LT.

Coughlin and grab her from behind, wrapping his arms all the

way around her. LT. Coughlin started to struggle, bending

over forward. At the same time LT. Coughlin was being

assaulted, another woman standing behind the witness was being

grabbed by men in the hallway. The witness left the area

before LT. Coughlin emerged from the hallway.

During the course of our investigation, we received several

allegations indicating that LT. Coughlin engaged in improper

activity while at Tailhook '91. We investigated

all such allegations but found that the allegations were based

on hearsay testimony or were otherwise without merit. None of

the people who told us about the alleged incidents or improper

conduct involving LT. Coughlin actually witnessed the

incidents themselves nor could they

provide the identity of any eyewitnesses.

When interviewed, LT. Coughlin denied all allegations of

impropriety. No credible information was found to support the

allegations of misconduct on the part of LT. Coughlin. As

noted by one male officer, it appeared the allegations were

fabricated to discredit LT. Coughlin for her public disclosure

of facts concerning assaults at

Tailhook '91.

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