HOW DOES COP KEEP JOB AFTER SEX WITH ADDICT?

Officer Should Have Been Booted, Not Given Desk Job

Even with a shortage of eligible black men, it's unlikely that a
crackhead from Englewood had consensual sex with police Sgt. John
Herman.

Let's start with the beady eyes, Nazi mustache and double
chin.

But Herman's lawyer, Peter Hickey, ripped the woman -- an admitted
crack user -- who says she was raped by Herman in 2004. "This is
about money. This is about a woman who was out walking the streets,"
Hickey said.

Herman, a 20-year-veteran of the police force, faces charges of
aggravated criminal sexual assault, aggravated kidnapping and
official misconduct for the alleged rape.

The victim, now 42, alleges that Herman stopped her on the street
and, when she couldn't produce any ID, told her to get into his squad
car. Then, Herman allegedly drove the woman to her apartment, where
he allegedly sexually assaulted her and violated her with a baton.

After first denying knowing the woman, Herman, who was married at the
time (his wife has since left him), now claims the sex was consensual.

He would be more believable had he said he paid the woman for
sex.

What crack addict would agree to have sex with an unattractive
Chicago Police officer unless some drugs were involved? And if Herman
was having consensual sex with the woman, he darn sure was helping
her with her $100-a-day habit.

But what is most galling about these charges is this: It took nearly
four years -- count them: 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2007 -- for the city
to stop paying Herman, even though DNA on the baton was linked to the
victim, and DNA on the condom was linked to him. Instead of being
fired for misconduct, Herman was assigned to a desk job where he
continued to draw his salary.

Charge tossed out

Obviously, a person is innocent until proven guilty, and Herman
hasn't been convicted of rape.

Still, how in the heck does a married police sergeant have consensual
sex with a crack addict -- while on duty, no less -- and not get
booted off the force?

Instead of serving and protecting black citizens in Englewood, Herman
- -- by his own admission -- was exploiting at least one of them.

Yes, the victim's drug addiction works against her, while Herman
wears the mantle of Johnny Law. Nonetheless, it took a lot of courage
for this woman to speak out.

Apparently, Herman wasn't the only bad cop who abused this woman.
Other police officers allegedly tried to persuade her not to file
charges by slapping her with a bogus arrest for prostitution.

That charge was later tossed out because no one showed up in court.
But the arrest follows a pattern of harassment present in other cases
in which a woman complained, including the notorious videotaped
beating of a bartender at a North Side bar.

This victim testified Monday that a detective offered her $5,000 to
drop her complaint.

"They kept badgering me as if I was the defendant and I raped him,"
she said.

Other officers who conspired with Herman to silence this victim
should also be charged with official misconduct. For too long,
corrupt police officers have been able to run amok because other
police officers have their backs when they should have the abused
citizens' backs.

'It shouldn't have taken four years'

Obi Benjamin Nwoye, the attorney who is representing the victim in a
civil suit, was disgusted by Herman's claims that the sex was consensual.

"If it was consensual, Herman wouldn't have stuck his chest out and
said he didn't know her when these charges were filed," he said. "If
it was consensual, Herman had a duty and an obligation to disclose
that, since the city has spent tons of money defending this case."

Nwoye also pointed out that Herman fought the release of his DNA
evidence and took the Fifth Amendment in his deposition for the civil
lawsuit.

"It shouldn't have taken four years to investigate this case," Nwoye
noted. "But the truth is like water. It will always find a way out,
no matter how long it takes."

For the sake of argument, suppose the victim in this case had an
intimate relationship with Herman in the past. Did that give him the
right to snatch this woman off the street, to force her to have sex
with him and have her endure an assault with his baton?

Absolutely not.

He was the law. She was the addict.

Even if the sex had been consensual, a good cop would not have gone
there. Because Herman did, he wasn't fit to wear the blue uniform.