Victim in alleged sexual assault by Benton Harbor police officer files federal lawsuit

GRAND RAPIDS — A 25-year-old woman who says she was forced to perform sex acts on a Benton Harbor police officer under the threat of arrest has filed suit against the city and the officer's estate.
The 20-page action was filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Grand Rapids by Dominque C. Allen and her attorney, Albert J. Dib, of Royal Oak.
Allen's suit, announced in a press release issued by Dib, Fagan and Brault, P.C., comes more than a month after Jared Lorenzo Graves, 42, was charged with two counts of third-degree criminal sexual conduct and one count each of misconduct in office and delivery of marijuana.
Berrien County prosecutors alleged Graves forced a woman to perform oral sex on him and to have sex with him during two separate incidents in October and November and threatened to arrest her in connection with a drug case if she did not follow through.
Graves resigned from the police department after the allegations came to light and was found dead Jan. 12 inside his Benton Township home from an apparent suicide.
In her lawsuit, Allen alleges that Graves had been previously investigated for alleged sexual assaults while assigned as a school-resource officer with the Benton Harbor Police Department and that the city “is vicariously liable for Graves' conduct because it knew or should have known of Graves' propensities to sexually assault females before Graves committed the actions” against Allen.
Allen seeks a jury trial and asks for compensatory and punitive damages, as well as the payment of her court costs and attorney fees in the case.