Statement by NOW President Terry O’Neill on Former Police Officer Daniel

His emotional outburst prompted jail authorities to keep him on a 24-hour watch.

Speaking to reporters at a press conference earlier this afternoon, Jannie Ligons-the first of the women to report the officer-recalled how Holtzclaw, 26, pulled her over for swerving. “We need to find out how aggressive [investigators] were. We see that pattern for many sexual assault cases”, said Stinson, whose research was cited in the AP investigation. “It’s mind boggling how nobody would catch this”.

Shortly after the verdict was read, a press conference was announced with victims, lawyers and local activists, in front of the courthouse where Holtzclaw was tried and convicted.

In this case, several accusers stepped forward about assaults that prosecutors said had occurred from December 2013 to June 2014.

She pushed back at one point, telling him, “I’m really getting upset by the way you’re coming after me”. While in a haze and handcuffed to the hospital bed, Holtzclaw groped her and forced her to perform oral sex.

Numerous women did not report the assaults because they feared repercussions.

Prosecutors identified a clear pattern of Holtzclaw pulling over women in his capacity as a police officer, then using coercion and threats to sexually assault or rape them.

The defence attacked the credibility of the women who testified against Holtzclaw, saying they were dishonest.

“No nurses, nobody came to check on me”, Hill said. “I had to do what he was making me do”.

Holtzclaw’s conviction on 18 of the 36 counts he was charged with is encouraging, but our society has much more work to do to end rape culture. His sentencing takes place in January.

Sexual misconduct committed by law enforcement officers is a problem that has concerned police chiefs for years. The women’s testimonies revealed a similar pattern: Holtzclaw would stop them, search them for drug paraphernalia and run criminal background checks.

Janie Liggins said that the officer pulled her over, fondled her and “did certain things” to her. “This was not a new or unique form of violence”. This March, a San Diego police officer who pled guilty to groping and abusing women on duty was released after spending five months in jail. “I would hope that this case would be an important step toward raising their visibility”.

Jermaine Terrell Starr has also written about why he thinks the case got so little attention from national media: A confluence of historic and contemporary reasons, from respectability politics in the African-American community to the hesitancy to cover sexual assault victims due to privacy concerns. On the night the jury returned a verdict, few news networks carried any live coverage.

The Oklahoma City Police Department, who fired Holtzclaw soon after the charges were made, said it in statement that it was pleased with the verdict. Don’t make me do this, sir. “I want to be clear that I am ashamed”.

Holtzclaw trembled and sobbed as his verdict was read Thursday night, on his 29th birthday.

Moreover, though, the women did not think people in power would listen to them. Crump praised Franklin and her group, OKC Artists for Justice, for “helping to tell America about the biggest rape case that none of them had heard about”. Others said as women of color, they were afraid to speak out against an officer – but Liggons was not. “There is a tendency not to believe black women. And these women didn’t know each other”. And it launched a months-long investigation that brought investigators to 12 other women who never thought they’d have their stories told.