Bad Police? Officer Shows Las Vegas Woman His Penis, Forces Her To Remove Clothes

Las Vegas's Metropolitan Police Department agreed Monday to pay a $24,999 settlement to a woman who accused an officer of pulling off her pants, photographing her without her consent, and exposing himself to her after a domestic distrubance call.

The woman, who was not identified in media reports because she was a victim of a sex crime, filed a federal lawsuit against the department in May 2015 in connection with events that unfolded after she called the Las Vegas police to report a domestic disturbance in 2013. After multiple officers arrived to her apartment and arrested a male companion, officer Solomon Coleman, 31, stayed behind with the woman and her five-year-old son, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported.

The lawsuit said Coleman followed the woman up to her room and told her that he needed to "check for bruises on her ass" even though a female officer had already taken pictures of the woman's injuries. The woman told Coleman she didn't have injuries there, but Coleman insisted, pulling down her shorts and bending her over the bed. He then began to take pictures. The woman's son entered the room, but Coleman quickly ushered the boy out. Later, Coleman exposed himself to the woman and asked her "if she liked it" and "if it was big," the woman told the Review-Journal in 2013. Coleman came back to the woman's apartment later that night, but she didn't answer the door.

"I’m very disgusted. I don’t know who to trust. When I see cops, I’m scared. My son sees a cop at a grocery store, and he says, ‘Mom, look. That’s a bad cop.’ I say, no, honey. But what am I supposed to do? He’s already had a bad experience,” she told the paper.

After the woman reported the incident to police, department authorities began investigating Coleman. They eventually found explicit videos of a suspect and sexual text messages with women he met during the course of his official police duties on his phone. In December 2013, Coleman was charged with two counts of oppression under color of office, two counts of open or gross lewdness, and one count of capturing an image of the private area of another person. Coleman was acquitted on all of the charges except capturing an image of the private area of another person, a misdemeanor. He is currently serving probation.

In perhaps the most famous case of sexual misconduct by a police officer, former Oklahoma City police officer Daniel Holtzclaw was convicted of rape after he preyed on women with criminal histories while in uniform. Holtzlclaw was sentenced to 263 years in prison in January 2016.