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In Texas, Sexual Assaults by Police "Depressingly Common"

Sue Ogrocki
/
AP photo

Stories of police sexually assaulting women have become depressingly common in Texas, according to a new story in Texas Monthly.

In June, an Amarillo police officer was fired a day after he responded to a 911 call at the home of a woman. After the officer went to her house, the woman told police that he raped her. A rape kit conducted afterward proved her story. Though the officer was fired, he was not indicted.

Accusations like these have arisen all over The Lone Star State. Last month an officer in Pharr, Texas, was convicted of sexual assault of a child—a fifteen-year-old who was raped multiple times by the officer. Earlier this month, a Texas state trooper was fired after he stopped a woman for speeding and offered her $300 to have sex with him. And in Odessa this month, an officer was convicted on five counts of improper sexual activity after he groped five different women he pulled over for traffic stops. 

Texas Monthly says: “These stories aren’t rare, and they’re damaging to a lot of people.”