Lawsuit accuses Wichita cop of molesting woman in patrol car

A lawsuit alleges that an on-duty Wichita police officer groped and fondled a woman and put her in fear while giving her a ride home in his patrol car from an Old Town bar.

The officer also put his uniform cap on her head, took pictures of her and invited her to go “skinny dipping” during the ride on Aug. 11, 2014, the lawsuit says.

The lawsuit petition, filed earlier this month in Sedgwick County District Court, names as defendants Officer Richard Bachman, former Police Chief Norman Williams and the city of Wichita.

The lawsuit contends that at the time of the ride, Williams and the city should have known that Bachman had a “history of sexual aggression and unlawful sexual advancements and assaults of other women.” Bachman had nearly 15 years with the Police Department, records show.

City Attorney Jennifer Magana said Wednesday that she couldn’t comment because the lawsuit is pending. The lawsuit seeks “in excess of $75,000,” a standard amount early in litigation.

Neither Bachman nor Williams, who was police chief at the time of the alleged incident, could be reached for comment earlier this week.

Bachman resigned Aug. 11, 2014, Police Department spokesman Lt. James Espinoza said Wednesday. A criminal investigation of Bachman was conducted and presented, and no charges were filed in the incident, Espinoza said. He said he couldn’t say more because of pending litigation.

Bachman resigned the same date as the alleged incident.

The lawsuit, filed by Wichita attorney Mark Schoenhofer on behalf of the woman, gives this account:

While Bachman was patrolling the Old Town entertainment district, the woman was with co-workers at Finns Lounge, 131 N. Rock Island. She knew Bachman from her previous job at the QuikTrip at 1010 E. Douglas, which Bachman frequented.

She saw Bachman at the bar that night at 9 and 11. When she saw him the second time, she was calling for a taxi. Bachman told her he would give her a ride home, the lawsuit petition says. She accepted the invitation, and they walked through an alley next to the bar to Bachman’s patrol car.

As she started to get into the backseat, Bachman told her she could ride up front “but that he had to first ‘pat her down,’ ” the lawsuit says. He had her put her hands on the car roof, spread her legs, and he “patted and rubbed around the outside” of her breasts, it says. He told her to sit in the front seat.

She “submissively endured the ‘pat down’ ” but “did not invite, encourage, solicit or agree to the touching of her breasts.”

During the ride, Bachman put his class A uniform cap on her head and took photographs of her, placed his hand inside her shirt and bra and fondled and groped her breasts for about 30 seconds, the lawsuit says. He also invited her to go “skinny dipping,” it says.

When they stopped at the woman’s house, the officer told her “not to tell her husband,” the lawsuit says.

The woman “felt trapped, and helpless,” it says: She couldn’t escape the armed officer without jumping from a moving police car, and she “feared repercussion from Officer Bachman for any physical resistance.”

Bachman violated regulations or training and procedure by patting down someone not under arrest or suspected of a crime, the lawsuit says. He also didn’t follow training and procedure by frisking a female without a female backup officer and by using the palms of his hands instead of the back of his hands during the pat down, it says.

Williams, who was police chief at the time, and his supervisory staff “knew or should have known of previous sexual complaints filed by other women against Officer Bachman,” the lawsuit says.

It goes on to allege that the city and Williams knew that Bachman “had made unwanted sexual advancements on other women in the community on more than one occasion, while on duty and acting under the color of law.”

The lawsuit claims that Williams was negligent also for allowing Detective Brian Safris to conduct a criminal investigation of Bachman when the two men were close friends. Williams, the lawsuit says, knew that an outside agency should have done the investigation to make sure it was unbiased.

District Attorney Marc Bennett said Wednesday that he reviewed the investigation of Bachman and decided not to file criminal charges based on the facts presented, applying the higher standard in criminal cases, where proof has to be beyond a reasonable doubt.

This story was originally published November 26, 2015 at 4:24 PM with the headline "Lawsuit accuses Wichita cop of molesting woman in patrol car."