Hours after The Washington Post published
an investigation into a New Orleans police officer who sexually abused a teen he met responding to a rape report, a judge delayed the trial for her civil case against the city.
The victim’s lawyers, in a motion filed Thursday, accused the city of withholding “highly relevant text messages.” The texts show the head of the New Orleans Police Department was notified of “potential sexual abuse of a minor by an officer” days before that officer sexually assaulted her in 2020, when she was 15.
The existence of the text messages, which The Post first reported Thursday, contradicts the city’s previous claims in federal court that there is no evidence that any NOPD policymaker had notice of any inappropriate behavior by Officer Rodney Vicknair, according to the victim’s motion.
Now the jury trial, which was set to begin Monday, will be rescheduled while the two sides debate the relevance of the text messages — and what they mean for the city’s liability in the case.
Text messages in September 2020 between Susan Hutson, then the New Orleans independent police monitor, and Shaun Ferguson, then the city police department’s superintendent. (New Orleans Office of the Independent Police Monitor/Obtained by The Washington Post)
The victim, whom The Post is identifying by her middle name, Nicole, said she feels she is being betrayed by the police department for a second time.