The Unsorted BBS Collection/thegreatunsorted.tar/thegreatunsorted/texts/txtfiles_misc/news76

Text File | 1993-02-24 | 2KB | 36 lines

02/23/1993   PEKIN, Ill. (UPI) -- Citing conflicting evidence,
Tazewell County authorities say they will not prosecute two central
Illinois police officers in the rape of a woman who then was struck
with a squad car.
   State's Attorney Erik Blanc said Monday there still are many
questions in the case but not enough evidence to prosecute Creve
Coeur police officers John Bailey and Donald Gilliat in the Jan. 1
incident.
   Nicole Baldwin, 26, was hospitalized for two weeks after her
husband found her injured in a Creve Coeur driveway. The officers
claimed they had picked up the intoxicated woman and dropped her off
at a neighbor's house.
   Baldwin first accused her husband and another man of beating her,
then changed her story and said she was injured when she fell off a
garage roof. She changed her mind again and accused the officers of
assaulting her, Blanc said.
   Blanc said the only physical evidence in the case are Baldwin's
injuries, which were consistent with being struck by a car or taking
a substantial fall.
   Polygraph tests conducted by the Illinois State Police as part of
their investigation indicated Baldwin's story of the attempted rape
was truthful, while the officers' accounts were not, Blanc said.
   However, Illinois law says results from lie detector tests are
not admissible as evidence in court.
   Bailey and Gilliat had been charged with official misconduct
along with a third officer and Creve Coeur Police Chief Jerry
Daughters.
   Daughters and the other officer, Frank Thatcher, were accused of
hampering the state police investigation of the case and harrassing
the woman.
   Blanc said there was no evidence Thatcher and Daughters tried to
cover up the case or intimidate Baldwin. But the prosecutor
criticized Creve Coeur police for waiting too long before
interviewing Baldwin at the hospital.