A Tennessee woman who claims a deputy sexually assaulted her in the back of his police cruiser has filed a federal lawsuit against him.
The lawsuit, filed in the Knoxville U.S. District Court, names Anderson County, the Sheriff’s department, former reserve deputy Gerald Graham, and Sheriff Paul White as defendants.
The lawsuit, filed by the unnamed woman’s lawyer, Gregory P. Isaacs, seeks unspecified damages, both compensatory and punitive.
Graham, 65, was fired by White soon after the incident was reported.
The Incident
According to the lawsuit, while transporting the woman from her home to her father’s home on a domestic call, he parked his car and sexually assaulted her
It continues to say the deputy used his position of authority to force her to perform oral sex on him in the back seat.
The lawsuit further claims that the woman was “falsely imprisoned” in violation of her civil rights when she was “transported to a secluded location and … contained against her will and liberty.”
According to Isaacs, Graham “was not supervised and went off the radar for a while.” He went on to say, “That raises a concern for other females that are placed in similar situations.”
The lawsuit claims Graham was not properly trained for the job he was given, and that his transportation of the woman without a female officer present was a “violation of Anderson County Sheriff’s Office policies.”
The suit also claims that both the sheriff’s department, and the county were negligent “in using inadequately and poorly trained officers to transport females because of staffing issues.”
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