WOMAN CHOSE TO LIFT SHIRT, OFFICER SAYS

Defendant Say He Was Shocked By Her Behavior

A police officer told a Circuit Court jury Tuesday that he did not sexually
assault a female motorist and order her to expose her breasts in the back
of his squad car during a traffic stop, allegations that have him standing
trial on two criminal charges.

Terrence N. Gilbert said he was shocked when the woman raised her shirt and
bra to her neck and speculated that she did so voluntarily to avoid a
search for contraband by a female officer.

"I said, 'Damn, why did you do that?' " Gilbert testified on the second day
of his trial on charges that carry prison terms totaling more than 15
years. "I was surprised she did that."

Gilbert also denied the woman's allegation that he found a small quantity
of marijuana in her clothing and offered to see to it that she didn't face
any drug charges if she agreed to meet him the next day and perform a "lap
dance."

Gilbert insisted that he innocently agreed to meet the woman when she
telephoned him for what he believed to be a date.

"I thought she was fairly attractive," Gilbert said under questioning by
defense attorney Gerald P. Boyle. "I wasn't going to turn it down."

Under cross-examination by Deputy District Attorney Jon N. Reddin, Gilbert
said he didn't perceive a professional problem with dating a woman he had
ticketed and explained that he considered her fair game for a date because
she revealed her breasts to him the day before.

And, he acknowledged that in a taped telephone conversation he never asked
the woman what she was talking about when she repeatedly asked him if he
would make her potential marijuana case vanish if she met him for a date.

"Did you at any time say, 'I don't know what you're talking about? You
didn't have any weed'?" Reddin asked.

"No," Gilbert replied.

Jurors in the case against Gilbert were expected to begin considering his
fate this morning after hearing closing arguments from the attorneys.

Gilbert, 33, is standing trial on one misdemeanor count of fourth-degree
sexual assault and one felony count of misconduct in office concerning the
woman's allegations about what happened during her Jan. 25 traffic stop in
the 4700 block of N. 37th St.

He was arrested the following night when he went to the woman's workplace
to meet her. The woman was there with police officers after contacting them
with her allegations.

Gilbert also is standing trial on two additional counts of misconduct in
office relating to allegations from two other women who have said that he
asked them to expose themselves in various ways after they had been
arrested on drug charges following a traffic stop on Oct. 13 in the 1800
block of W. Locust St. They did not make their allegations until after
Gilbert was charged in the Jan. 25 stop.

Gilbert's account of the matters came one day after jurors heard the
women's allegations.

Under questioning from Boyle, Gilbert insisted there was no basis for a
drug case against the woman ticketed in January because he found no
marijuana in her pocket as she contended when he searched her on the street
while his partner searched a car she had been driving with expired license
plates. The candy tin that she said contained about $5 worth of marijuana
held nothing but tobacco, according to Gilbert.

He told Boyle, "I didn't know what she was talking about" when she
repeatedly brought marijuana into the telephone conversation that led to
the rendezvous and, ultimately, his arrest.

"I wanted to go out with her," Gilbert said when asked why he told her,
"You'll be taken care of." "I was confirming a date."

The trial this week is Gilbert's second in criminal court. In June 1997,
Gilbert was charged with disorderly conduct after being accused of drawing
his gun while off duty and sticking it in the face of a 13-year-old boy.

Gilbert contended he feared for his safety, brandished his gun and chased
the boy and a group of young men after one of them threw a beer bottle at
his car. A jury found him not guilty.

Gilbert, an officer for eight years, has been suspended from duty since his
arrest in January.