We need a new hashtag. We need to add a new agenda item to the battle cry that has become the Black Lives Matter Movement. #Policeofficersstoprapingblackwomen needs to become a targeted mission set to educate the public about an ongoing and growing issue facing black women, to report new cases, and to prevent further activity.
The newest sexual police assault of a Black woman making headlines is that of Maleatra Montanez, 40, who called police when her young daughter went missing on Valentine’s Day in 2015. Unfortunately, when officer Chester Thompson, 47, arrived at Montanez’s Syracuse home, things went horribly wrong.
After the white officer learned that Montanez, a mother of four, was home alone with her newborn son, he became sexually aggressive. In a sworn deposition, Montanez said, “When I opened the door, he told me that I was pretty,” and that her “lips looked like it can hold…a penis.”
According to the New York Daily News, Montanez alleges that Thompson wanted to have sex in her living room. While Montanez refused, in the deposition she claims he forced her to perform oral sex and later raped her in front of her newborn son. The lengthy encounter included a visit from a neighbor, who was turned away by Thompson.
The next day, Montanez went to the hospital and reported the rape to authorities. The offender, who admitted in court to having sex with Montanez and other women while on duty, was kicked off the force and only sentenced to three years probation for the depraved assault. This light slap on the wrist was due to a New York State law that protects officers from being charged with rape “unless the alleged victim expressly says no and refuses,” according to the News.
Reportedly Montanez, who was understandably afraid for both her life and that of her son, did not fight back during the assault. She said, “I had millions of thoughts in my mind, but I didn’t do it.”
Ed Sivin, Montanez’s civil lawyer, said, “I believe a rape took place in this case … The law defines ‘forcible compulsion’ as ‘a threat, express or implied.’”
Filled with anguish, Montanez regrets not fighting back. She even blames herself. She said, “I can’t accept it … I can’t accept it because I just feel like … I should’ve done more. And I can’t accept that I just didn’t do more … Why didn’t I stab him? … Why I didn’t scream out my front door. Why I didn’t do nothing?”
Montanez recently filed a $7 million suit against Thompson and others involved in the case from the Syracuse Police Department. In the suit, she alleges that Thompson’s actions should’ve been reviewed earlier by the department, as he had a history of abusing women.
Sivin said, “We’ve had information from several sources that this is not the first time that Chester Thompson has engaged in this type of malfeasance … And it appears that this may have been going on for a period of years. And that people high up in the Syracuse Police Department knew about it and didn’t take prompt remedial measures against him.”
