Officer accused of slapping woman's behind

Star-Telegram ^ | 8-23-07 | DEANNA BOYD

[Dysart]

FORT WORTH -- A Fort Worth police officer was arrested Wednesday on allegations that he slapped the rear of a woman he caught engaging in sexual conduct in a car in Oakhurst Park in June.

Officer Craig Murrah, who has been with the department since 2001, was arrested on a warrant for "official oppression," a Class A misdemeanor punishable by up to two years in a county jail and a fine of up to $4,000.

Murrah is on restricted duty pending a review of the case by the Tarrant County district attorney's office.

According to a news release by the Fort Worth Police Department, the incident occurred about 1 a.m. June 22 after Murrah found a couple engaging in sexual conduct inside a vehicle at the park at 2300 Daisy Lane in north Fort Worth.

The officer directed the couple out of the car. The 18-year-old woman, nude from the waist down, got out and was placed in the back of his patrol car, the release said. Sometime during the investigation, Murrah allegedly slapped the woman on the rear, the release said.

The woman said the officer then let the couple go with only a warning. The woman told her boyfriend what the officer had done upon getting in the car, prompting him to call 911.

A subsequent internal investigation determined there was sufficient evidence to support the woman's claims, and an arrest warrant for the officer was issued.

[massgopguy]

RAWHIDE!

[xcamel]

when the inmates run the asylum...

[television is just wrong]

i’m speechless.

[driftdiver]

I’m sure she was deeply offended!!! Somehow I don’t believe her or her ‘date’.

[dfwgator]

was arrested on a warrant for "official oppression,"

"Help, I'm being oppressed!"

[xcamel]

BTW: $25 says the officer never touched her...

[umgud]

Was this woman any kin to the woman in the Nifong debacle?

[tioga]

Mmmm. Sounds suspicious.

[tioga]

My thoughts exactly.

[television is just wrong]

*hmmmm, maybe.

[Plains Drifter]

#4 Great tag line!!!!!!

[patton]

I think that you are right.

Sooo ... why was a cop concerned with two kids getting it on in a car, in the first place?

Dumb use of resources.

[ChuteTheMall]

There is no excuse for an officer slapping the nude buttocks of a woman caught performing a sexual act in public, not with OC spray and/or a PR-24 hanging on the belt.

[television is just wrong]

thanks.

[coloradan]

Somehow I don’t believe her or her ‘date’.

From the story: "A subsequent internal investigation determined there was sufficient evidence to support the woman's claims"

Given that the police were investigating themselves (that is, in the face of a potential conflict of interest) and nevertheless found sufficient evidence, I'd have to disagree.

[Hemingway's Ghost]

A subsequent internal investigation determined there was sufficient evidence to support the woman's claims

A big red handprint on her arse?

[TLI]

Officer Craig Murrah, who has been with the department since 2001, was arrested on a warrant for "official oppression"

"official oppression"

[rawhide]

You ring?

[xcamel]

that was my guess... but it was the “boyfriend”, not the cop...