Victims of Cop’s Sex Scheme Set to Get Nearly $200K
Black Women Say Officer Assaulted Holtzclaw Fired And Imprisoned
By THOMAS E. SEWARD
Special to the Chronicle
The city has settled a civil lawsuit for less than $200,000 to nine victims who were among 13 Black women who accusedPolice Officer Daniel Holtzclaw of raping them as he carried out a sex scheme.
Officer Holtzclaw was said to have targeted Black women in the plot and would force them to have sex with him in exchange for not being jailed.
The officer was fired and is now serving more than 200 years prison.
In the settlement, nine women will get a total of $166,000.
While on-duty and off-duty, Officer Holtzclaw was accused of sexually assaulting 12 Black women and a 17-year-old Black girl between Dec. 2013 and June 2014.
Jurors in Dec. 2015 convicted him of sexual offenses involving eight victims.
He was sentenced to 263 years in prison.
The city successfully fought federal lawsuits that blamed police practices for his actions.
Nine of his accusers challenged a 2021 ruling in the city’s favor to the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver.
The settlements were reached after the appeals court ordered mediation.
The City Council agreed to the payments Jan. 31, without admitting liability.
An Oklahoma City federal judge signed off on the settlements.
Federal District Judge Joe Heaton had urged city attorneys to settle earlier after ruling in the city’s favor.
The city refused.
Among those getting a settlement is Jannie Ligons, a grandmother, who was the first to come forward with accusations against the police officer.
“He picked the wrong lady to stop that night,” she said at a news conference after his 2015 rape trial in Oklahoma County District Court.
Officer Holtzclaw also was sued.
His accusers dismissed the claims against him rather than proceed to trial only against him. Any verdict against him would have been uncollectible.
Officer Holtzclaw, now 36, continues to claim he is innocent. He has vowed to use new evidence from the civil cases to resume his fight against his criminal convictions.
“I still hope and believe that justice will prevail,” he said lin September for a news release emailed to the media by his sister.
The City Council in 2019 agreed to a $25,000 settlement to resolve a lawsuit that accused Officer Holtzclaw of excessive force.
The fired police officer denied any wrongdoing in the 2013 incident, where he handcuffed a woman while checking on a report of a stolen car.
The woman, who was not involved in the car theft, said he slammed her face into a brick wall and said she got medical treatment at a hospital emergency room after he let her go.
(Photo A is WHBP file photo.)
Officer Daniel Holtzclaw as he was led into the courtroom as he faced trial. He was given more than 200 years in prison.
(Photo B)
Police Officer Daniel Holtzclaw is in uniform and standing beside a squad car.
