Police Officer Accused of Raping Woman Who Called 911

A police officer in Detroit is charged with sexually assaulting a woman who called 911 during a domestic violence incident.

Officer Deon Nunlee faces charges of second-degree criminal sexual conduct and assault with intent to penetrate and misconduct in office, according
to prosecutors. Via the Detroit Free Press:

The woman called 911, seeking help from police after reportedly being assaulted by her boyfriend. But
while police responded to the domestic violence call, one of the
officers allegedly took the woman into an upstairs bedroom and sexually
assaulted her, authorities said.

“I’m troubled,” Detroit Police Chief James Craig said. “Certainly, this is the type of criminal misconduct
that should never happen by any member of this department, or any
department for that matter.”

The details of the assault are horrific, especially when considering the woman called police seeking protection:

According to the prosecutor’s office, Nunlee took the woman upstairs and his partner stayed with the boyfriend downstairs. “It
is alleged that when Nunlee was in an upstairs bedroom with the woman,
he sexually assaulted her,” according to the prosecutor’s office. “While
they were alone upstairs, Nunlee indicated he would be coming back to
the house later at 7 a.m.”

Police said Nunlee did not return. According to the prosecutor’s office, the woman reported the alleged assault to police the next day.

Craig
said the other officer at the scene did nothing wrong. He said that in
domestic dispute situations, officers do keep parties at safe distance,
but in this case, they were in different parts of the home. For officer
safety, Craig said, “an officer should never lose line of sight of their
partner.”

The rape was reported on Oct. 31. Results of the rape kit came back on Feb. 10, and Nunlee was subsequently suspended without pay. He was arraigned on March 7.

“This is an anomaly. This is not what our police officers do,” said Cmdr. Johnny Thomas of the department’s professional standards bureau. “This officer who decided to engage in criminal misconduct does
not represent the 2,500 or so sworn men and women who wear this
uniform.”