City officer investigated for sexually assaulting woman during traffic stop

BALTIMORE - Police say it was a Northeast District patrolman who offered a woman an out on a traffic ticket if she would perform a sexual act.

The woman filed the report with the department saying it happened late Friday night or early Saturday morning.

"First and foremost these allegations are serious and they are very concerning to the commissioner and the department and we are handling our investigation accordingly," said city police spokesperson Anthony Guglielmi.

The investigation into the 31 year old, three year police veteran will be overseen by the chief of detectives.

Police say detectives are working to test clothes, the car the woman was in and the officer's squad car. Forensics they say will get to the bottom of what happened.

"We are also looking to see if there is any history between this officer and this individual. Not only a personal history, but a professional history. Did they encounter each other on the street before? Were they locked up before? Was there any type of interaction they had?" said Guglielmi.

This thorough investigation comes after criticism on how the department handled sexual assault cases in the past resulting in a large number of “unfounded” claims.

Commissioner Fred Bealefeld has since changed the policy saying that every rape claim must now be investigated. A move that has since nearly doubled the cases in the sex offense squad this month as compared to last year.

A special hotline was also set up just weeks ago and has already netted about 50 calls from women who say their assault case never got the right attention from police.

All this as the department now focuses on a sexual assault claim involving one of their own.