Tennessee police officer facing rape charge for subjecting a 41-year-old black man to cavity search

A Tennessee police officer who subjected a black man to anus search on the side of the road has been charged.

Hamilton County Sheriff’s Deputy Daniel Wilkey, 26, was arrested on charges including rape, sexual battery, false imprisonment, extortion, stalking, assault, oppression, and reckless driving – totaling 44 counts according to court documents.

Wilkey was arrested on Tuesday on the charges against James Mitchell and many others. 

Hamilton County District Attorney General Neal Pinkston on July 12 released dashboard camera footage of Wilkey and another deputy, Bobby Brewer. 

They were kicking, punching and stripping the pants off a handcuffed black man Mitchell, 41, before conducting a body cavity search on the side of a Soddy-Daisy road, The Chattanooga Times Free Press reported.

The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation investigated the case and handed its report to Pinkston’s office.

According to the Chattanooga Times Free Press, Wilkey has been at the center of a criminal investigation and at least four separate lawsuits involving traffic stops, during which he is accused of engaging in misconduct ranging from illegal drug searches and a roadside body cavity search to a forced baptism and the groping of female minors.

 He has been on paid administrative leave since July.

Robin Flores, a local civil rights attorney and former police officer is representing the handcuffed man. He filed a $17 million federal lawsuit against the county, Wilkey, and Brewer. He further filed additional three lawsuits against Wilkey. They detailed the alleged groping of minor females during a traffic stop.

The Chattanooga-Hamilton County NAACP criticized the roadside body-cavity search that placed as aggravated rape.

“We have had enough of this kind of animalistic brutal behavior against people of color in this community,” NAACP President Elenora Woods.

“We are here to say we are ready to stand united [and] to those in law enforcement who can do something about it, you need to do something about it, and you need to do it now.”

“I want to reassure our community, each and every day the men and women of the Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office are to perform their duties in a deliberate, honorable, and professional manner. We are charged to protect this community and its citizens and this is a responsibility I take very seriously,” Hamilton County Sheriff Jim Hammond said in a statement.

“My staff and I will continue to follow the steps laid out by Civil Service and cooperate with the District Attorney’s Office throughout the course of this investigation.”

Mitchell was not Wilkey’s only victim. 

One Shandle Riley also claimed Wilkey conducted an offensive body search on her over suspicion that she had methamphetamines in the car.

Wilkey was criminally indicted for extortion and false imprisonment for the February incident involving Riley.