Texas Trooper Arrested for Aggravated Sexual Assault
Department of Public Safety Trooper Arrested
On Friday night, DPS Trooper Lee Boykin stopped a vehicle that had a man and woman in it. According to Boykin, the stop was made because the man failed to signal a turn; he was given a warning. However, Boykin instructed the woman to get into his police vehicle at which point he drove her to another location. Boykin told the woman she had an active warrant and forced her to perform oral sex on him. When finished, according to KSAT 12, “He then allegedly placed his hand on his firearm and told the woman to run.”
The woman left the area and immediately reported the assault to the Houston Police Department. In interview, Boykin said he pulled the man over for failing to use his turn signal. At first he lied saying he dropped the victim off at a fast food restaurant. Under further questioning he admitted to having sexual contact with the woman but said it was consensual.
What was Really Happening?
If you read the various articles on this story you, like me, may feel something is off. The woman was walking with her husband along a street. A friend came by and offered her a ride but supposedly there wasn’t room in the car for both her and her husband so the woman accepted the ride. The turn the driver was making, that he failed to signal, was into a hotel parking lot. We haven’t been told what the active warrant on the woman was for. If you’re like me, you’re probably thinking this sounds like prostitution. If that is the case, then I’m really glad all the news articles are not using that as a distraction from what happened.
What Trooper Boykin did was still a sexual assault regardless of whether the woman was a prostitute or not. It is also very common that when officers do sexually assault women, that those women have criminal histories, making them even more vulnerable to this type of abuse. I wonder if any more women will come forward now that he has been arrested?
Texas Department of Public Safety Statement
KSAT 12 reached out to DPS and was able to get the following statement from them.
“The Texas Rangers (DPS) assisted the Houston Police Department with a criminal investigation into an incident that occurred on Friday night, August 7, involving an on-duty Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) Trooper, Lee Boykin Jr. The resulting investigative findings supported the arrest and charge of Boykin for the offense of aggravated sexual assault. Boykin was booked into the Harris County Jail.
The department promptly withdrew all of Boykin’s authority as a commissioned officer, ordered him to surrender all department property and initiated the process to terminate his employment.
The Texas Rangers are working closely with the Harris County District Attorney’s Office and the Houston Police Department, which is leading this investigation, and we would refer any additional questions to their offices.
Boykin has been employed with the department for approximately four years and was assigned to the Texas Highway Patrol office in Katy.”
Official Oppression
I understand that Aggravated Sexual Assault is the higher charge but I don’t understand why they still didn’t charge him with Official Oppression. It’s not like they have to pick one or the other. I’m not an attorney but according to Law.Justia.com, the Texas Penal Code states:
Sec. 39.03. OFFICIAL OPPRESSION. (a) A public servant acting under color of his office or employment commits an offense if he:
(1) intentionally subjects another to mistreatment or to arrest, detention, search, seizure, dispossession, assessment, or lien that he knows is unlawful;
(2) intentionally denies or impedes another in the exercise or enjoyment of any right, privilege, power, or immunity, knowing his conduct is unlawful; or
(3) intentionally subjects another to sexual harassment.
(b) For purposes of this section, a public servant acts under color of his office or employment if he acts or purports to act in an official capacity or takes advantage of such actual or purported capacity.
(c) In this section, “sexual harassment” means unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, or other verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature, submission to which is made a term or condition of a person’s exercise or enjoyment of any right, privilege, power, or immunity, either explicitly or implicitly.
That sure sounds like what happened to me. Boykin was on duty, in his uniform and in an official police vehicle. How much more is needed to show that he was acting under the color of his office or employment? How often do we see arrested people who are not police officers get charges piled on, such as resisting arrest and disorderly conduct, just because the individual asked why they are being arrested? Yet I haven’t been able to find any article that mentions a charge other than the aggravated sexual assault.
Lee Boykin’s bond was set at $100,000.
Inwas sexually asulted by state trooper lee boykins also. He as not been aressted on my case yet. I do have a case number.