Felony Friday: Oklahoma City Cop Accused Of Sexually Assaulting Six Women
If the police are supposed to protect us from the bad guys, then who is supposed to protect us from the cops?The people of Oklahoma City can rest a bit easier tonight, because an alleged sexual predator has been arrested and is now off the streets. The accused sexual deviant, Daniel Ken Holtzclaw, is a three-year veteran of the Oklahoma City Police Department. The twenty-seven-year-old was arrested Thursday afternoon on complaints of rape, forcible oral sodomy, sexual battery, and indecent exposure. He is being held in the Oklahoma County jail with his bail being set at $5 million.Holtzclaw is accused of stopping women and threatening them with arrest, then sexually assaulting them. Investigators have received statements from six women so far. All of the alleged victims were black females between the ages of thirty-four and fifty-eight. Some of the officer’s assaults are alleged to have occurred at the location of the stop and other victims claim they were transported to remote locations before Holtzclaw assaulted them.Detectives claim they began to investigate Holtzclaw after a woman complained to police June 18th. He was placed on administrative leave the same day.From NewsOK.com:
“We started the investigation and we started looking at traffic stops he had made throughout the previous months to try to identify and initiate contact with females that we knew he had stopped during that period of time, just to see if they had been sexually assaulted,” Citty said.Prater said he anticipates charges against Holtzclaw will be filed by Aug. 29.Citty said authorities feel there are additional victims in the case.“We are releasing the picture and if there is anyone that was victimized by this officer, we certainly want to hear from them,” Citty said.
At first blush, the speed with which the investigation of officer Holtzclaw began is a comforting aspect of an otherwise disturbing story. But prior to this complaint did the Oklahoma City Police Department have reason to suspect that one of their own officers was a serial sexual predator?There is no way to know at this point if the police ignored, either purposely or negligently, warning signs that a serial sexual predator was in their ranks. In order for the police to immediately place Officer Holtzclaw on administrative leave and begin an investigation either the victim would need to have had very strong evidence, or prior incidents involving Holtzclaw had the department on watch.Could early signs of inappropriate or criminal behavior have not been formally documented?If this is the case, surely the Police Chief would have had an incentive to prevent this information from seeing daylight. It would not reflect well on the Oklahoma City Police Department. It is bad enough that OKC Police employed an accused sexual predator. But if they did not act expeditiously to investigate prior accusations, then that could warrant criminal charges against others in the police department if it can be proven that evidence was suppressed.It is also possible that Officer Holtzclaw was being closely monitored due to his having been named in a wrongful-death lawsuit in the May 1, 2013 death of Clifton Armstrong. Armstrong was a methamphetamine addict that became paranoid while high on the substance and called 911. Officer Holtzclaw was one of four cops that responded and eventually subdued Armstrong outside his mother’s house. Armstrong was handcuffed and belts were used to restrain his legs. The state medical examiner ruled the death an accident, but noted that Armstrong’s physical confrontation with police was an “aggravating factor to his death.”Could Police Chief Bill Citty be cleaning up this wrongful-death lawsuit by pinning it on the "bad egg" Officer Holtzclaw?It is pure speculation that the Oklahoma City Police Department had any reason to believe Holtzclaw was sexually assaulting women prior to his being placed on administrative leave June 18th. It is equally speculative to suggest that, in light of the sexual assault accusations, Holtzclaw’s role in the death of Clifton Armstrong could be used to clear the other three officers involved. However, it cannot be disputed that the Oklahoma City Police have an incentive to distance themselves from Officer Holtzclaw and to overtly show that the police department did everything in their power to remove a predator from the streets.Police Chief Bill Citty tried to accomplish this feat when he pleaded for the community to not associate the rest of the police force with Officer Holtzclaw.Citty said the case disturbed him and he defended his fellow officers by saying, “When something like this happens, I have to hope that most of the community realized that our officers, 99.9 percent of them, are trustworthy, and when something like this happens, our officers take this very personally.”Citty has a point. There are many police officers who are fine people. But this does not mean it is advisable to openly trust cops just because of the uniform they wear or the car they drive. This case serves as a reminder that mentally deranged people are scattered throughout society.Does the structure of the police model in our society draw mentally damaged people into the police ranks?The coercive methods police departments use to obtain funding and the fact that many people do not consent to the man-made laws that police officers are tasked with enforcing are likely contributing factors to the problem. The position of a police officer seems to attract those that are not afraid to use force upon individuals. A system that continually promotes these bad ideas is bound to step on individual rights with alarming frequency.In order for someone to be a cop, they need to have a high tolerance for the violation of individual rights.We’ll be keeping an eye on this case as more information is provided in the coming days.Check out our past editions of Felony Friday!The Lions of Liberty are on Twitter, Facebook & Google+Receive access to ALL of our EXCLUSIVE bonus audio content – including “Conspiracy Corner”, “Degenerate Gamblers” and the “League of Liberty Podcast” by joining the Lions of Liberty Pride and supporting us on Patreon!
