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Oklahoma Cop Convicted Of Sexually Assaulting Black Woman While On-Duty ‘Picked The Wrong Lady To Stop That Night’ As She Prompted Other Victims To Come Forward

By Angelica N. Sumter
Published on: 15:43 PST, Dec 11, 2015


Former Oklahoma police officer Daniel Holtzclaw, 29, who was convicted Thursday of 18 of the 36 charges he faced, including four counts of first-degree felony rape and two counts of forcible oral sodomy, “picked the wrong lady to stop that night” as her accusations prompted 12 other victims to come forward, according to NY Daily News. Grandmother Jannie Ligons, 57, was the first to come forward, claiming that in June 2014, Holtzclaw pulled her over on NE 50th and Lincoln for “no reason whatsoever,” but the former college football star stated that his reason for stopping the woman was because she was swerving.

The grandmother went on to say at a news conference on Friday, a day after the ex-Oklahoma officer’s conviction, that instead of giving her a ticket or sending her off with a warning, he began fondling her before forcing her to perform oral sex on him. Ligons stated that she was out “there alone and helpless and didn’t know what to do;” therefore, she complied and did what the officer told her to do.

“In my mind, all I could think of was he was going to shoot me, he was going to kill me,” said Ligons. “I kept begging, ‘Sir, don’t make me do this, don’t make me do this, sir. Please. You’re going to shoot me.’

“The only thing I could see was my life flashing before my eyes and the gun in his holster on his right side. As I tried to look up at his name, I was afraid to because, I said, ‘If I know his name, I know he’s going to kill me.’ So that I didn’t do.”

Although Holtzclaw assured the woman that he wasn’t going to shoot her if she didn’t perform oral sex on him, she still feared for her life. Ligons stated that after the cop forced her to perform oral sex, she was traumatized and had to go to the therapy. She also claimed to have had a stroke behind the ordeal. However, her courage to come forward and be the first to report the Oklahoma officer prompted 12 other woman to come forward. Shandegreon “Sade” Hill was one of the black women to be sexually assaulted by Holtzclaw in December 2013. She came forward with her story after reading about what happened to Ligon via Facebook.

According to CNN, Hill stated that after the officer pulled her over, she was taken to a hospital on the other side of town where she was stripped of her clothing and placed in a room, handcuffed to a bed. “No nurses, nobody came to check on me,” Hill said. “Me being in the room with the police, not expecting to get violated the way I did, the way I was done, I just couldn’t even believe it. I was speechless. I was scared.”

The victim stated that Holtzclaw forced her to have sex him and she “felt like I was in survivor mode, so I had to do what he was making me do.” Civil rights attorney Benjamin Crump told reporters Friday that “It was very evident when you look at his victims, it wasn’t coincidence who he chose to violate. It was methodical. It was deliberate.” He added that “This is not just happening in Oklahoma City.” Prosecutors believe that Holtzclaw sexually assaulted black women with a criminal record because he believed they wouldn’t talk.

After six months of preying on women, Holtzclaw found himself behind prison bars, facing 36 charges. On Thursday, after twelve jurors deliberated for 40 hours, they found him guilty of 18 of the 36 charges he faced. The former Oklahoma officer cried uncontrollably in court as the judge read his verdict.

Daniel Holtzclaw’s sentencing will be held in January. He could be facing up to 263 years in prison.

[Image via Getty Images/NFL Photos]

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