A 26-year-old Chicago police officer says a fellow cop sexually assaulted her in the hours after their Chicago Lawn district Christmas party last Friday, and that she later went to the hospital on her own to report it.
The woman told hospital staff and detectives she was attacked by a 37-year-old officer assigned to the same district. Despite the allegation, the accused officer has not been arrested.
According to the Chicago Sun-Times, officers were called to Trinity Hospital after a nurse reported the woman had said she was sexually assaulted by her colleague. Both had attended a district Christmas party held at 115 Bourbon Street, a large venue listed at 3359 W. 115th St. in Merrionette Park on MapQuest. Area 2 detectives have been assigned to handle the case.
Allegations From the Police Report
The police report, as described by the Chicago Sun-Times, paints a disturbing timeline leading up to the alleged assault.
It states the male officer picked the woman up the night before the party, and that both had been drinking heavily. According to the report, he began touching her in their vehicle and again inside a strip club. She told investigators she later woke up around 6 a.m. at his home to find him sexually assaulting her.
The report quotes him as saying, "I want to f--- the s--- out of you" before the alleged attack. She later drove herself to Trinity Hospital, arriving around 1:15 p.m., according to the report.
Wider Questions About Oversight
The allegation lands in a department already under a microscope for how it handles sexual-misconduct complaints involving its own officers.
A joint review by the Invisible Institute and ProPublica found more than 300 such complaints over the past decade and reported that investigators often downplayed or failed to fully probe allegations against officers.
Investigations and What Comes Next
Criminal investigators are leading the immediate probe into the officer’s allegation. On the administrative side, oversight of sexual-misconduct complaints against Chicago police typically falls to the Civilian Office of Police Accountability, which outlines on its website how complaints are received, assigned, and investigated.
So far, police have not announced any charges in the case. Anyone with information is asked to contact Area 2 detectives or their local Chicago Police Department district station.
