Harvey Cop Never Charged After 2 Pregnant Women Accused Him Of Misconduct
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Two pregnant women accused a South Suburban Harvey police officer of serious misconduct, even beating one of them and causing her to have a miscarriage.
But he was never charged or disciplined in any way.
In August of 2015, a 20-year-old pregnant woman claims that during a traffic stop, Harvey Police Officer Richard Jones told her to meet him on a secluded road.
The woman filed a police report after she says the two had sex in the back of Jones' squad car, CBS 2's Rob Johnson reports.
Attorney Jon Erickson says Jones shouldn't have been on patrol that day.
"This officer preys upon the weak, he preys upon the young, he preys upon people who can't defend themselves," Erickson says.
Erickson represented Kwamesha Sharp, who claims that in 2011 Richard Jones threw her to the ground on her stomach, allegedly saying he didn't care that she was pregnant, then flipped her over and pressed his knee hard into her abdomen. Two weeks later she miscarried.
"It felt like I lost myself," Sharp said. "Never knew what my child would have been."
Though no charges were ever brought, Erickson filed a lawsuit on behalf of Sharp. It settled for $500,000 in 2014 with no admission of guilt. Harvey Ald. Christopher Clark says this type of costly misconduct in Harvey has gone on for too long.
"I don't know what they are doing but I can tell you what I believe. If you want to root out corruption the fish rots head first," he said. "I'm talking about Mayor Kellogg and the chief of police as well," Clark says.
"Richard Jones was no fan of Mayor Kellogg and Mayor Kellogg was no fan of Richard Jones," Sean Howard, a spokesman for the city of Harvey said. He insists the police department has been reformed over the last few years. Clark disagrees.
"The police department has not changed," Clark says. "They are still doing exactly the same thing they were doing in 2011, 12 and for the last 13 years."
CBS 2 tracked Richard Jones to an apartment in Calumet City, and though his name was on the mailbox and his car was parked out front, nobody answered the door.
As for Sharp who's already won a settlement against the City of Harvey, "I really wanted the police officer to suffer for what he did to me. I wasn't the same after, I know that," she said.
