TWO LAPD POLICE OFFICERS HAVE BEEN CHARGED WITH SEXUALLY
ASSAULTING WOMEN WHILE ON DUTY.
THE TWO MEN IN QUESTION ARE JAMES NICHOLS AND LUIS VALENZUELA.
THE LOS ANGELES TIMES HAS DETAILS ON THESE STORIES, VARIOUS
WOMEN HAVE COME FORWARD WITH SIMILAR ACCOUNTS OF WHAT
HAS HAPPENED TO THEM.
THESE COPS WOULD PULL THESE WOMEN OVER, AND ALLEGEDLY
TAKE THEM TO A MORE SECLUDED AREA AND FORCE THEM TO
EITHER FONDLE THE POLICE OFFICERS OR GIVE THEM ORAL SEX.
MOST OF THE ALLEGED ASSAULTS TOOK PLACE WHILE THE
OFFICERS WERE ON DUTY, AND SOME OF THEM WERE PERPETRATED IN
THEIR PATROL CARS.
THE VICTIMS WERE OF THE AGES OF NINETEEN, TWENTY-FOUR,
TWENTY-FIVE AND THIRTY-FOUR AT THE TIME OF THE ALLEGED ASSAULTS.
POWER CORRUPTS ABSOLUTELY.
THE GOOD NEWS IS THAT WE CAUGHT THEM AND WE ARE ACTUALLY
PUNISHING THEM.
THEY WERE FROM THE HOLLYWOOD PRECINCT, VERY CLOSE TO
HOME, AND IT IS SCARY TO KNOW THAT THIS IS HAPPENING BY
PEOPLE WHO ARE SUPPOSED TO PROTECT AND SERVE US.
OBVIOUSLY WE HAVE DONE COUNTLESS STORIES INVOLVING POLICE
BRUTALITY, AND NOW WE HAVE STORIES OF COPS TAKING ADVANTAGE
OF THEIR POWER TO ASSAULT WOMEN LIKE THIS.
IT IS AS BAD AS IT GETS, VALENZUELA IS BEING CHARGED
EXTRA FOR ASSAULTING THEM AT THE POINT OF A GUN.
HE COULD GET LIFE IN PRISON, THIS IS VERY SERIOUS.
I AM SUPER HAPPY THAT THEY ARE TAKING THIS AS SERIOUSLY AS THEY ARE.
I GUESS I GET WHY, BUT WITH THE SHOOTINGS, EVEN IF IT IS AN
UNARMED PERSON,
THEY ALL SUPPORT THE COP, AND I GUESS IT IS
BECAUSE THEY THINK IT IS DANGEROUS.
BUT IT IS WEIRD THAT THE KILLING OF UNARMED,
INNOCENT PEOPLE IS TAKEN LESS SERIOUSLY
THAN A SEXUAL ASSAULT, WHICH IS AS SERIOUS AS IT GETS.
EXCEPT MURDER IS SLIGHTLY MORE SERIOUS.
WHAT ENDED UP HAPPENING WITH THIS STORY IS, MULTIPLE
WOMEN CAME FORWARD.
WHEN THE FIRST REPORTS CAME OUT, IT SEEMED LIKE THE POLICE
DEPARTMENT WANTED TO BRUSH IT UNDER THE RUG, BUT THEN IT
BECAME A REOCCURRING THING AND YOU CAN ONLY IGNORE IT FOR SO LONG.
I THINK THE LAPD REALIZED THEY NEEDED TO HANDLE IT BEFORE
IT BECAME THE BILL COSBY OF THE LAPD.
AT LEAST, HERE IS A SITUATION WHERE, AT THE END OF THE DAY
THEY DID THE RIGHT THING AND GOT THESE GUYS OFF THE STREET, SO IT
WINDS UP BEING A GOOD ENDING, WHEN YOU DON'T OFTEN GET
THAT IN STORIES OF POLICE ABUSE.