Police Supt. Outraged Over Alleged Cop Assault

Police Supt. Terry Hillard on Thursday expressed "extreme outrage and disappointment" over allegations that two uniformed police officers sexually assaulted a young woman this week.

"I'm a father.  I also used to be a policeman before I retired, and now I'm the interim police superintendent.  It's inappropriate.  It can't be justified," said Hillard.

The District 23 officers were arrested and have been relieved of their police powers, he said.

"What they did -- or allegedly have done -- is inappropriate, and it's against the law," said Hillard.  "That's what we're investigating."

According to a police report, the woman was drunk and crying while walking near Addison Street and Sheffield Avenue early Wednesday morning.  The officers picked her up in a marked SUV and offered to drive her to her apartment in the Rogers Park neighborhood. 

While en route, she said she had consensual sex with one of the officers. 

Back at her apartment, she told police that the trio played strip poker and that she later had sex with one of the officers.  But she said, according to the report, that she felt threatened by their advances and began banging on the wall in an attempt to get her neighbor's attention.

She later got away and a neighbor, hearing the commotion, told police he saw a naked man running down the hallway and another man, in a police uniform, walking away, the report said.

The woman was taken to St. Francis Hospital in Evanston.

The officers allegedly left part of their uniforms and a cell phone at the woman's apartment.

The officers have been on the job for about a decade, Lt. Maureen Biggane told the Chicago Sun-Times.

In a statement released Wednesday evening, the department said the allegations are "egregious and taken very seriously."

"The allegations should not overshadow the tireless dedication of thousands of proud Chicago Police officers who work every day in support of the highest standards of police service," the statement said.

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