Another San Diego police officer has been accused of criminal misconduct, arrested just a day after the city’s top cop acknowledged lacking internal oversight and publicly apologized for a recent wave of embarrassing allegations.
Police announced Wednesday that they had arrested one of their own and charged him with kidnapping and raping a 34-year-old woman while on duty. The officer involved is no longer with the department, but police did not immediately clarify whether he resigned or was fired.
According to police, a woman reported earlier today that officer Daniel Dana, 26, who’s been the department for about four years, had raped her and forced her to have oral sex with him. The woman said she had received a text message from Dana and agreed to meet him, police said. Then, once they met, police said Dana told her she would be arrested unless she had sex with him. Fearing arrest, the woman told police, she complied.
Police arrested Dana this afternoon and charged him with kidnapping and rape under the color of authority.
With the arrest, Dana becomes the 10th officer accused of serious misconduct in recent months. Allegations against the officers include driving under the influence, excessive force, assault, stalking and rape. Dana was the second cop arrested in the last five days.
Most recent allegations have involved off-duty incidents and the officers involved have been reassigned to administrative duties while police investigate. While most of the officers identified by police so far have been long-time veterans of the department, the new case involves an officer hired under Police Chief Bill Lansdowne.
Lansdowne addressed officer misconduct Tuesday, after Chula Vista Police arrested William Johnson, a 12-year veteran of the department, and charged him with felony DUI over the weekend. The police chief called the incidents an “unprecedented” spike in alleged misconduct that had tarnished the department’s public image for years to come.
For a list of the recent allegations and the officers involved, check out this Union-Tribune article. For more information on how police plan to address the recent spike, check out the post I wrote yesterday about Lansdowne’s press conference.
If you have any information or insight to share about the recent spike in allegations, please contact me directly at keegan.kyle@voiceofsandiego.org or 619.550.5668. You can follow me on Twitter: twitter.com/keegankyle.