Texas Cop Charged in Rape of Woman He Pulled Over

A San Antonio police officer has been charged with the rape of a 19-year-old woman he pulled over at 2am Friday. Officer Jackie Len Neal, 40, told the woman she was driving a stolen vehicle, according to an affidavit. Neal asked the woman to step out for a pat-down; she said she'd prefer a female officer to do it, but he ignored her, the affidavit says, via the San Antonio Express-News. Neal groped the woman, handcuffed her, and took her to the back of his car, where he raped her, per the affidavit.

Police car surveillance gear normally would have caught the attack, but Neal's wasn't working—something he would have known, police chief William McManus says. "I am outraged. This is a punch in the eye to the police department," he notes. Neal has been arrested for alleged felony sexual assault; he's been released on a $20,000 bond and will keep receiving pay ahead of any indictment. He was accused in a similar incident within the past few years, though the alleged victim in that complaint refused to cooperate with police and no action resulted. Neal was recently suspended for three days for dating an 18-year-old member of a department youth program. (More Texas stories.)