By SUSAN WEICH and SHANE ANTHONY St. Louis Post-Dispatch (Missouri)
ST. CHARLES - A St. Charles police officer accused of sexual misconduct on a traffic stop two years ago and later cleared has filed a federal civil suit seeking $3 million in damages from the city, police and prosecutors.
Officer Richard B. Fischer, 40, was indicted by a grand jury in May 2005 after he was accused of having sexual contact with a woman, but the results of DNA testing led to the charges being dropped in October of that year. Neil Bruntrager, one of Fischer's attorneys, said he learned of more evidence two weeks ago that should have been turned over long before, and his client wants to know who withheld it.
"We don't know where that information stopped," Bruntrager said.
The suit names the Missouri Highway Patrol, former highway patrol Sgt. J. Sam Steward; the city of St. Charles; the St. Charles Police Department; former St. Charles police chiefs Tim Swope and James Gooch; current police Capt. Robert Boerding; Rachel Smith of the St. Louis city circuit prosecutor's office; and the St. Charles County prosecutor's office.
The defendants could not be reached or declined to comment Thursday. Smith prosecuted the case after St. Charles County prosecutor Jack Banas removed himself because he knew Fischer.
Fischer, who eventually was reinstated by St. Charles police, initially was suspended with pay while the case was investigated. After six months, he was brought back to desk duty, but when the indictment was returned, he was suspended without pay.
The suit seeks to recoup, in part, lost pay.
The suit says DNA evidence taken at the time showed that another man, not Fischer, had been with the woman that night. The suit also says that man, at the woman's request, told police he hadn't had sexual contact with her. The woman later admitted she had sexual contact with the other man that night.
Bruntrager said the city had information before the indictment that it was not Fischer's DNA.
Also, Bruntrager said, police call logs and cell phone records showed the woman's version of events couldn't have been true, and Fischer found irregularities in the police investigation when he pursued an internal complaint about it.
"It was just mind-boggling," Bruntrager said. "It's Duke lacrosse. It's exactly what happened there." He was referring to allegations that a stripper was raped and beaten by members of Duke University's lacrosse team in 2006. All charges in that case were dropped.
The woman whose allegations led to the indictment is not named as a defendant in the suit. Bruntrager said the statute of limitations for suing her has expired. He said Fischer pursued a complaint after a leadership change in the police department.
"People in command at this point have indicated they want to do the right thing," Bruntrager said.
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