Chicago's Finance Committee approved a $415,000 settlement Tuesday for a woman who accused two Chicago police officers of sexually abusing her while she was drunk.
The 22-year-old woman alleged that on March 30, 2011, two officers, Juan Vasquez and Paul Clavijo, drove her home from Wrigleyville because she was drunk and sexually assaulted her in the police car and in her home in Rogers Park.
The woman, who had been drinking at a friend’s home, attempted to enter the back seat of the marked squad car, but Clavijo ushered her onto his lap in the front seat, where he sexually assaulted her while Vasquez went into a liquor store, prosecutors said after the incident.
At the victim’s home in the 1300 block of West Greenleaf, she drank and played strip poker with them, prosecutors said. The officers then sexually assaulted her, leading her to pound on the walls and scream, prosecutors alleged. Police found the victim in a “hysterical” state and recovered part of Vasquez’s uniform and cellphone from the room, prosecutors said.
The woman now suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder and depression, according to the Chicago Tribune.
The woman's blood-alcohol level was .38, nearly five times the legal limit for driving a car in Illinois, when the assault occurred. Although Vasquez and Clavijo claimed their sexual contact with the woman was consensual, Cook County State's Attorney Anita Alvarez said the woman was "unable to give knowing consent" because she was inebriated, according to the Chicago Sun-Times.
Three years after the incident, the state's attorney's office quietly agreed to a deal that allowed Clavijo and Vasquez to plead guilty to felony official misconduct. No sexual misconduct was alleged.
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Both officers avoided prison time and were sentenced to two years probation. They resigned after their felony convictions disqualified them from working as police officers.
Clavijo was also accused of a March 10, 2011, crime in which he and Vasquez allegedly picked up a 26-year-old woman at a bus stop near Clark and Sheffield.
They drove her home and asked to use her restroom, prosecutors said. Inside, when Vasquez went to the bathroom, Clavijo allegedly followed the woman into her bedroom and “pushed her onto the bed, pulled down her pants and performed a sex act on her,” prosecutors said.
The woman objected, and the officers left, but the woman did not immediately report the crime because she was intimidated, prosecutors said. Vasquez does not face charges in the incident.
