SAN ANTONIO -- San Antonio Police arrested an officer from within their own ranks Thursday night. Craig Nash was booked on charges of sexual assault and official oppression.
According to an arrest warrant, Nash is accused of raping a transgendered person during his shift Thursday morning. The victim claims the 39-year-old officer was in full uniform and driving a SAPD patrol car before the incident happened.
"This is a slap in the face to every good police officer, to every command officer, and to the public and to the victim," Police Chief William McManus said at a morning news conference. "This is about as hard a slap in the face as you could possibly get."
"It's angering and it's frustrating and I'm here to say that we will not tolerate this," he said.
Police said a man came in just before 4:30 a.m. Thursday to report the crime. He allegedly described being sexually assaulted by a suspect driving a police vehicle with lights on the top and a computer in the front seat area.
According to the warrant, the victim was at the intersection of Guadalupe and Zarzamora when Nash drove up around 3:15 a.m. Investigators said the officer handcuffed the victim and made him lie down in the back of his police unit, then drove the car to an unknown location.
The officer allegedly took the handcuffs off the victim and forced him to perform two sex acts without a condom, police said.
The arrest document alleged that when the acts were completed, Nash dropped the victim off at a school on Guadalupe. Nash then reportedly went to his assigned substation at 515 Frio Street.
The victim then took a bus to SAPD's Central substation to file a criminal complaint, according to the warrant.
"He's not going to get away with this," the upset alleged victim reportedly told police.
Investigators said they were able to use the department's GPS system, which tracks all police vehicles, to validate the victim's allegations.
The warrant states that GPS data focused their search on patrol car 7023. According to police, the system showed movements by that SAPD cruiser matched the victim's story.
Detectives eventually showed the transgendered rape victim a photo lineup of suspects. He reportedly pointed to Nash's picture.
Nash is out of jail on bonds totaling more than $27,000.
