New Orleans jury hears case against city over sexual assault of teen by officer

A federal jury in New Orleans has started hearing arguments about whether the city is liable for the sexual assault of a 15-year-old girl by an on-duty police officer.

The federal civil trial, brought against the city of New Orleans by the teen’s family, began Monday and is expected to last four days.

The officer in question, Rodney Vicknair, died in prison earlier this year from brain cancer. He had served less than six months of a 14-year sentence after pleading guilty to violating the teenager’s rights by sexually abusing her in 2020.

According to authorities, in May 2020, Vicknair – who was 53 at the time – was on the clock when he escorted the teenager to undergo a forensic examination known as a rape kit after another man had sexually assaulted her.

Vicknair then gave the girl – 14 at the time – his cell phone number and offered her friendship as well as mentorship. In the ensuing months, authorities say that Vicknair and the teenager spoke on the phone and exchanged messages on the social media platform Snapchat.

Vicknair would often stop by the teenager’s house unannounced and uniformed, authorities said. Over time, Vicknair allegedly made sexual comments to her, asked her for sexually suggestive photographs, and exposed his genitals to her on video calls.

In September 2020, the officer arrived at the house of the teenager – who had turned 15 – and told her to get into his vehicle, court documents state. Federal prosecutors said he then locked the door and sexually assaulted her.

In September 2020, Vicknair’s own agency arrested him on state counts of sexual battery, indecent behavior with a juvenile and malfeasance in office. He was also suspended from the force.

Federal authorities then charged Vicknair, and he pleaded guilty in November 2022.

The family of the victim argue that the city and its police department are liable for her abuse, saying both could have done more to prevent him from using his position to assault her.

In an investigative piece reported by the Washington Post in March 2024, the newspaper revealed that Vicknair had been hired by the police department despite several prior arrests as well as a conviction of battery on a juvenile from 1987.

In a lawsuit, the family also alleged that after Vicknair joined the police force in New Orleans in 2007, he received a series of complaints in the years that followed stemming from allegations of unauthorized force, lack of professionalism, failure to follow the police department policy, verbal intimidation, neglect of duty, and failing to adhere to the law.

Some of the complaints came from citizens whom he encountered and others from fellow officers. None of the complaints led to his termination.

One allegation, highlighted in the complaint, alleged that Vicknair was found to have “abused his authority as a police officer to obtain an interaction with a woman” in 2009. The police department found that he had acted “inappropriately” with the woman and suspended him for five days, according to the lawsuit.

Local New Orleans news outlet WDSU said the trial is expected to focus in part on text messages sent to the city’s former police superintendent. The messages to Shaun Ferguson tried to make him aware of Vicknair’s abusive behavior days before Vicknair assaulted the girl in his car, said attorney Hope Phelps, who represents the victim and her family.

The messages were written by Susan Hutson, who at the time was New Orleans’s independent police monitor but is now its elected sheriff in charge of the city’s jail and security at local state courthouses.

“Hey Shaun, I need to reach Arlinda urgently, if she’s near you can you call her to call me?” read one of Hutson’s texts, referring to the chief of the police’s public integrity bureau at the time, Arlinda Westbrook. “It’s about potential sexual abuse of a minor by an officer.”

The victim and her family are suing for punitive, compensatory and special damages – as well as legal fees incurred pursuing the case.

Even if the judge in this case rules in the favor of the plaintiff and her family, it is unclear how difficult it would be for them to collect any damages awarded to them.