Former Cop Accused of Assaulting 13 Black Women Told Them 'Just Play By My Rules' 

By Hillary Crosley Coker  |  November 13, 2015 | 7:05pm
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The trial of Daniel Holtzclaw, a former Oklahoma City police officer accused of sexually assaulting at least 13 black women, rolls on. Last week, an all-white jury of mostly men had been selected. Friday marked the end of the trial’s second week of testimonies.

Beginning on November 2, three alleged victims have testified thus far in Holtzclaw’s trial. Each described how the then-cop targeted them and sexually assaulted them in various ways, from penetration to forced oral sex, according to KOCO. One alleged victim described being stopped by Holtzclaw outside of her home late at night and being forced into the back of his police car.

“I’m not going to take you to jail. Just play by my rules,” she said he told her….
She was questioned about several city warrants and was searched for drugs. She said she told Holtzclaw that she wanted to be searched by a female.
She said she was forced to lift her shirt and expose her breasts; she was not wearing a bra. Hotlzclaw allegedly asked what was underneath her breast.

She added that even though she showed him that she wasn’t hiding anything, he still touched her breasts “with both hands” before letting her go with a warning.

In the summer of 2014, an investigation into Holtzclaw kicked into high gear after he pulled over a black grandmother and allegedly forced his penis into her mouth. With no prior criminal history or skeletons Holtzclaw could hold over her, she reported the incident to her local precinct, outside of Holtzclaw’s patrol neighborhood, and went to a hospital for a sexual assault medical forensic examination. In August, Holtzclaw was arrested on charges that he’d sexually assaulted a number of black women, ages 17 to 58, among other crimes and by January 2015 he was fired by the Oklahoma City Police Department.

Earlier in the proceedings, the prosecution hammered home that these women became targets for Holtzclaw because of the color of their skin, previous criminal and/or drug use history along with the assumption that few would believe their stories over his own.

Scott Adams, Holtzclaw’s defense attorney, is taking the usual victim shaming approach by pointing out their arrest and criminal records and using coded terms like “street smarts” to describe the mostly poor black victims, according to BuzzFeed. The defense also brought in Cortland Selman, a man from Detroit who says he’s an old college friend of Holtzclaw’s.

“The thing he is alleged to do, that’s just not the person I’ve gotten to know,” Selman said. “Ten years of knowing (Hotlzclaw), I just cannot fathom these things being true. I have yet to see any of that in this testimony…. He does not have any issue with the African-American community or the people in it.”

Meanwhile, Holtzclaw has been staying at his parents’ home on house arrest—which he’s violated—for the last year. The former football player faces 36 charges, including sexual battery, indecent exposure, stalking, burglary and six counts of first-degree rape.

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Image via AP.

 
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