Lt. Col Jeffrey Krusinski, the officer tasked with handling the Air Force’s sexual assault prevention program, was arrested and charged with sexual assault over the weekend. After being arrested for aggressively groping a woman while intoxicated, the Air Force has removed Krusinski from his post pending an investigation.
On Monday, Krusinski was arrested for approaching a woman in an Arlington, VA, parking lot, and grabbing her breasts and buttocks. The victim fought Krusinski off as he attempted to assault her again, and as you can see from his mug shot, Krusinski has cuts on his eye and mouth. He was later released on a $5,000 bond, and removed from his position. The Air Force has requested jurisdiction from the Arlington Police Department in the matter, and Krusinski is expected to be arraigned on one count of sexual battery.
Stars and Stripes reports that Krusinski served in Afghanistan, as the deputy expeditionary mission support group commander at Joint Base Balad in Iraq, and as the commander of the 6th Force Support Squadron at MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, FL, before he was appointed as the Chief of the Air Force Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Branch.
Though Krusinski has yet to make a statement, Stars and Stripes said that Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel expressed “outrage and disgust over the troubling allegations,” and that the matter will be dealt with “swiftly and decisively.”
Aside from the obvious tragedy that surrounds any type of sexual assault, Krusinski’s arrest is a tremendous black eye for the Air Force. As the man tasked with preventing sexual assault throughout the military branch, Krusinski failed to live up to the standards he was in place to uphold. As a symbol of the Air Force’s attempt to address recent sexual assault controversies, his arrest suggests that sexual assault, or at least sexually regressive politics, are still hardwired into the foundation of the Air Force, and that past investigations into sexual assault led by Krusinski may have been compromised and may need to be reopened.
Krusinski’s arrest is the latest sexual assault scandal plaguing the Air Force. In Lackland Air Force Base in Texas, more than 30 training instructors and drill sergeants were investigated for sexual assault and fraternizing with junior officers, with more than 60 potential victims coming forward. And a recent Defense Department report estimates that 19,000 members of the armed services were victims of sexual assault in 2011.
Image Credit: Arlington County PD