The woman called 911, seeking
help from police after reportedly being assaulted by her boyfriend.
But while police responded to
the domestic violence call, one of the officers allegedly took the woman into
an upstairs bedroom and sexually assaulted her, authorities said.
Detroit Police Officer Deon Nunlee
has been charged in the alleged Oct. 30 assault of a 31-year-old woman. Police
said DNA connected Nunlee to the assault.
“I’m troubled,” Detroit Police
Chief James Craig said at a news conference Friday. “Certainly, this is the
type of criminal misconduct that should never happen by any member of this
department, or any department for that matter.”
Nunlee, 40, has been charged
with three counts of second-degree criminal sexual conduct and one count each
of assault with intent to penetrate and misconduct in office, according to the
Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office.
Prosecutors said Nunlee and his
partner were dispatched to an early-morning domestic violence run on the 16000
block of Asbury Park, where the woman said she had been assaulted by her boyfriend.
According to the prosecutor’s
office, Nunlee took the woman upstairs and his partner stayed with the
boyfriend downstairs.
“It is alleged that when Nunlee
was in an upstairs bedroom with the woman, he sexually assaulted her,”
according to the prosecutor’s office. “While they were alone upstairs, Nunlee
indicated he would be coming back to the house later at 7 a.m.”
Police said Nunlee did not
return.
According to the prosecutor’s
office, the woman reported the alleged assault to police the next day.
Craig said the other officer at
the scene did nothing wrong. He said that in domestic dispute situations,
officers do keep parties at safe distance, but in this case, they were in
different parts of the home. For officer safety, Craig said, “an officer should
never lose line of sight of their partner.”
Cmdr. Johnny Thomas of the
department’s professional standards bureau said that when the woman reported
the alleged assault to police on Oct. 31, Nunlee was placed on administrative
duties. On. Feb. 10, after results from the rape kit came back, Nunlee was
suspended without pay, Thomas said.
Asked whether Nunlee denied the
allegation, Thomas said Nunlee was given his Miranda warning and took his right
to remain silent.
Nunlee was arraigned Friday in
Detroit’s 36th District Court. His preliminary examination is scheduled for
April 17.
Nunlee, who was working in the
8th Precinct, has been on the force since 2008 and previously had minor
misconducts, police said.
Craig said this incident is not
a reflection of the department.
“This is an anomaly. This is
not what our police officers do,” Craig said. “This officer who decided to
engage in criminal misconduct does not represent the 2,500 or so sworn men and
women who wear this uniform.”
Nunlee is the third Detroit
police officer to face charges this month.
■ On
Wednesday, Detroit Police Officer Johnny Ray Bridges, 47, was charged with
unlawful imprisonment, assault with intent to do great bodily harm, domestic
violence and reckless discharge of a firearm in connection with the assault of
a 31-year-old woman on Monday.
According to the prosecutor’s
office, Bridges was off duty when he got into an argument with the woman, fired
a handgun in the air and punched and kicked her in her face and body.
Prosecutors said both had been drinking.
■
Suspended Detroit Police Officer Dana Bond, 41, is facing misdemeanor charges
of high blood-alcohol content, failure to stop at the scene of a personal
injury accident, and failure to stop at the scene of an accident with property
damage. Bond is accused of driving while intoxicated and getting into an
accident on Sunday. Bond was already suspended without pay at the time of the
accident because she is facing retail fraud charges for allegedly stealing wine
and food from stores in Detroit.
On Friday, before the news
conference, Craig said the department “will always vigorously investigate any
allegations of misconduct.”
