A transgender woman alleges a Chicago Police sargeant forced her to perform oral sex on him to avoid being arrested.
On March 5, the woman arrived at Rush University Medical Center and told the staff she had been sexually assaulted, reports the Chicago Tribune.
According to the unnamed woman, she was in an area on Fifth Avenue in the Lawndale neighborhood known for prostitution. She admitted she was with a man who she referred to as her boyfriend.
A Chicago police car pulled up and asked her what she was doing in the area. The woman says she explained she was “going home.”
According to her statement via police report, he allegedly told her that if she didn’t want to go to jail she would have to perform oral sex on him saying, “Because that’s what you do.”
She says she was ordered to get in the front seat of his car, and the sargeant drove off leaving her male companion there.
He allegedly stopped in an alley, exposed himself and ordered her to perform the sex act in the vehicle. At some point, the woman says she was able to preserve DNA evidence.
During the alleged sex act, the 39-year-old woman says the officer told her, “I can make you one of my regulars.”
At the hospital, she gave staffers the DNA evidence that she said would prove her story.
But she left the hospital before filing a police report saying she was fearful of “retaliation” by police officers.
Eventually, police detectives were able to discern the woman’s identity but found contacting her to be difficult. At the same time, detectives searched through surveillance video in the area she said the assault took place.
Weeks later, detectives became aware the woman was in police custody for a shoplifting charge and were able to interview her.
The Tribune reports that the Chicago Police Department “stripped the officer of his police powers on April 6 based on the findings of an internal investigation.
A week later, the sergeant was allowed to officially retire from CPD without being charged in connection with the alleged assault.
Police say they are still awaiting the results of DNA testing.
According to the Tribune, this isn’t the officer’s first brush with internal police charges.
In 1997, he was investigated after it was discovered he threatened to plant drugs on a suspect unless they handed over a gun. While Internal Affairs recommended he be fired, he was eventually given a 30-day suspension.
