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A federal jury in New Orleans is hearing arguments in court this week about whether or not the city should be held responsible for the sexual assault of a 15-year-old girl by a police officer who took her to the hospital for rape kit.
The trial, which began Monday, centers around the officer, Rodney Vicknair, who was sentenced to 14 years in prison after pleading guilty to violating the teenager’s rights by sexually abusing her in 2020.
He died in prison earlier this year after being diagnosed with brain cancer, only serving six months of his sentence.
Vicknair’s victim, who was only identified by The Washington Post by her middle name Nicole, and her lawyers, filed a lawsuit against the city in 2021 for what they claimed was a failure by NOPD to supervise Vicknair and properly vet him before he was hired.
Federal prosecutors said that in 2020, Vicknair, then 53, escorted a then-14-year-old victim to a hospital for a rape examination after she was assaulted by another man. The cop then offered to become the girl’s friend and mentor and often showed up at her house unannounced, prosecutors said.
Over time, Vicknair began making comments to her that were sexual in nature, eventually persuading her to send him sexually explicit pictures of herself that he kept on his phone.
“I try to keep him happy,” Nicole later told a forensic interviewer, according to a videotaped recording obtained by the Post. “He’s a cop, so it’s not like he’s going to get in trouble for any of this.”
In September 2020, when Nicole was 15 years old, Vicknair allegedly showed up at her house, told her to get in his truck and then locked the door, leaned over her and “intentionally touched her genitals under her clothing,” according to a Justice Department news release and court records.
The authorities were later contacted after Nicole’s mother found a photo of Vicknair pressing the teen into his body, according to the Post. She revealed her discovery to Nicole’s therapist who then contacted the Office of the Independent Police Monitor, a civilian oversight agency that responds to complaints about police officers.
An investigation into Vicknair was launched — but not until three days later, The Post found. Meanwhile, Vicknair remained on duty.
Two days later, Vicknair visited Nicole while he was on duty, then returned to her house after work where he later admitted that he once again locked the doors to his car so she couldn’t leave and groped her under her clothing.
Nicole, who is expected to testify at the trial this week, has stated in court filings that Vicknair assaulted her four times. Two of those times, Vicknair was in uniform, she said.
She also stated that she hoped her lawsuit would force New Orleans to reexamine how its officers are allowed to interact with vulnerable kids.
The lawsuit comes as New Orleans officials are working to end a consent decree with the Justice Department that has kept its police department under federal monitoring for more than a decade, the Post reported.
An investigation by the Post revealed that just five days before Vicknair assaulted Nicole, then-Superintendent Shaun Ferguson was alerted about “potential abuse of a minor by an officer.” He is also expected to testify this week.
Susan Hutson, who was leading the oversight agency at the time, testified in a deposition that she texted and spoke on the phone with Ferguson, making it clear that there was an urgent danger and that “something needs to be done,” the Post reported.
City attorneys have denied that the department is liable for the abuse, and argue that Vicknair was not on duty at the time and that he was not acting on behalf of NOPD “while performing any of the inappropriate actions alleged against him.”
The Post found that Vicknair was hired at the police department despite an arrest for aggravated assault charges and a conviction for battery on a juvenile. Three of Vicknair’s family members told the Post this stemmed from a sexual relationship with a minor.
While attorneys have defended the department’s vetting process, they admitted in court documents that Vicknair’s conviction did not appear on his background check when he was hired in 2007. It’s unclear why.
The Post’s investigation found that Vicknair is among more than 1,800 officers who were charged with crimes involving child sexual abuse from 2005 through 2022 and that law enforcement agencies across the country have done little to address the risk of child predators.
Vicknair was the sixth officer in the New Orleans Police Department to be convicted of crimes involving child abuse since 2011, the outlet reported.
An NOPD sergeant testified in a deposition earlier this year that the department has not changed any policies or training methods to prevent “another Officer Vicknair.”
