A cop lies in wait for a stripper to leave work. He trails her for several miles, then pulls her over on an isolate stretch of highway beyond his jurisdiction. He had pulled this particular stripper over once before, and coerced her into giving him her phone number. She told him she didn’t want to see him.

During the stop, he talks her up, then unzips his pants, pulls out his penis, and instructs her to give him a hand job. DNA tests confirm that it is his ejaculate all over her sweater. Testimony would later show that he disconnected the GPS device on his car before the stop. His own testimony that he didn’t know who was in the car before the stop is contradicted by the fact that he ran her license plate and got her name before he pulled her over. He had also previously run the plates of nine other strippers who worked at the same club — all out of his jurisdiction. Not only that, but his supervisor had warned him to “stay away” from strippers.

So guess what happened?

He was acquitted on all charges. Oh, and all of this happened in Orange County California. According to the article, an Orange County jury hasn’t convicted a police officer of a felony in recent memory.

The usual caveat, here: No, most cops aren’t like this creep. The point is the double standard, and the lack of criminal consequences for the abuse of authority. Kudos to the prosecutor for bringing the case. And I guess if the jury refuses to convict, that’s about all that can be done. Still, a regretful outcome.

Thanks to Richard Gardner for the tip.

This entry was posted on Sunday, February 11th, 2007 at 7:22 am by Radley Balko and is filed under Police Professionalism, Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.