Defendants were Charged by Now-Indicted Va. Officer
by Josh White, The Washington Post
Prince William County prosecutors dropped dozens of drunken driving and traffic cases yesterday as they formally announced that they would not pursue any charges brought by a former Virginia state trooper who allegedly solicited sex from a woman he arrested.
In all, 38 cleared defendants walked out of Prince William County General District Court yesterday morning as Judge C. Joseph Gwaltney read from a lengthy docket of cases brought by Trooper William A. “Buck” Carter.
Prosecutors decided to drop the cases after Carter, 42, of Manassas, was indicted this month on charges that he solicited sex from a 20-year-old woman whom he stopped for drunken driving Jan 9. Carter allegedly arranged to take the woman to his realty offices to have sex in exchange for dropping the charges, and the woman’s case essentially disappeared.
“It became apparent to us during the course of the investigation that if the allegations were true, we would not be able to depend upon the testimony of the charging officer in subsequent cases,” said Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney Richard A. Conway.
Carter, reached through friends, declined to comment.
Carter was suspended Feb. 14 -- the day after the woman would have appeared in court -- and resigned April 1, the day he was indicted. Prosecutors have charged Carter under Virginia’s anti-bribery laws.
They are continuing to interview several women who say Carter mistreated them during traffic stops. Most involve allegations that Carter harassed, intimidated and embarrassed the women, according to prosecutors, defense lawyers and interviews with the women.
A woman whose drunken driving charge was dropped yesterday said she was stopped by Carter on Jan. 5, four days before his alleged sexual misconduct. She said Carter persuaded her to sit in his car because it was cold outside, ogled her as he forced her to urinate on the side of the road and led her on a lengthy and scary drive through dark neighborhoods in the Manassas area.
“I seriously thought he wasn’t going to take me to the police station, that he was going to take me somewhere and attack me,” said Jennifer, 21, of Manassas, who spoke on condition that her last name not be used. “It was terrible. I was so scared. I thought something was going to happen. I felt like I was being kidnapped.”
A Virginia State Police internal affairs investigation last year showed that Carter arrested women in 53 percent of his drunken driving cases -- and that he arrested white women in 43 percent of his cases -- far more than the average law enforcement officer. According to statistics for the past five years, 19 percent of Prince William drunken driving arrestees are women, and 14 percent of Manassas DUI arrestees are women.
State police also are beginning an internal investigation into whether Carter’s supervisors and co-workers knew that he was profiling young white women during his patrols in Prince William County -- a task the agency’s superintendent has given to his top internal affairs investigator.
Troopers have said they knew Carter was arresting an inordinate number of women, and the internal affairs report in May shows that his supervisors were aware that he was arresting a high percentage of women.
“It’s always of concern when the credibility of a police officer is questioned, because so much relies on that,” said Casey R. Stevens, a Woodbridge lawyer who represents a woman stopped by Carter. “All that a police officer really has is his credibility. It’s just a tragedy for him as well as for the person involved and any others that may have been. It’s just a tragedy for everyone.”