CHICAGO (AP) — Chicago Police said Thursday they were investigating allegations that two on-duty officers picked up a crying woman in their squad car this week and at least one of them sexually assaulted her.
Interim Police Superintendent Terry Hillard said
the two veteran officers were placed on administrative duty pending the outcome
of criminal and internal investigations after accusations surfaced about the
incident that allegedly happened early Wednesday morning.
"I have to express my extreme disappointment
and outrage (of) such accusations against members of this department,"
said Hillard, who promised that, should the allegations be proven, "these
officers will fully be held accountable and punished."
Hillard would not disclose details of the
investigation, but a police official told The Associated Press that according
to the police report, the veteran officers were driving on the city's North
Side early Wednesday when they spotted a 22-year-old woman on the street. The
woman was crying and appeared to have been drinking when she accepted a ride
home from the officers, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity
because the report had not been made public.
The woman told officers that she had sex with one
of the officers in the front passenger seat of the marked Chevy Tahoe SUV and
then went to her apartment where all three played strip poker and she had sex
with one of them, according to the report.
At one point, according to the official, the report
says that the woman told police that she became frightened and ran out of her
apartment. A neighbor heard her screaming and called 911, the official said.
Hillard said the officers were arrested, but had
not been charged as of Thursday afternoon. He said the Cook County State's
Attorney's office has been notified and evidence was being processed.
"What they allegedly did was inappropriate and
it was against the law and that's what we're investigating," he said.
The department has been plagued over the years by
complaints of misconduct, but the numbers of such allegations fell sharply
under former Superintendent Jody Weis, whose contract expired a few weeks ago.
Weis, who took the job in 2008, was given an ultimatum by Mayor Richard Daley
to clean up a department marred by embarrassing acts by several police
officers, including beatings caught on tape.
Weis left the job even though Daley had asked him
to stay until Mayor-elect Rahm Emanuel takes office in May and names a new
superintendent.
Copyright 2011 The Associated Press.
