Suit Alleges Misconduct by Orange Police : Courts: Woman contends officer coerced her into sex acts after her arrest on suspicion of drunk driving. Officials say lawman resigned under threat of dismissal after internal investigation into contentions.

An Orange woman filed suit Wednesday against the city, the Police Department and an officer who, she alleges, twice coerced her into having sex with him while he was on duty, threatening to have her jailed if she refused.

Officer Randall L. Driver, 29, named in the lawsuit filed in Orange County Superior Court, resigned earlier this year under threat of dismissal after an internal investigation into the woman’s allegations, said Lt. Timm Browne, the department’s spokesman.

According to the lawsuit, Driver arrested the woman last Dec. 26 under suspicion of drunk driving and threatened that, if she did not meet his sexual demands, he would “make her life a living hell” and do everything he could to make sure she would be held in custody for as long as possible.

After she was cited and released, he drove her home, sexually fondled her and told her that he would return later in the evening, reiterating “threats of dire consequences if [she] did not submit to his demands,” according to the suit. He later returned and demanded that she orally copulate him, it alleges.

“This man used his badge and his uniform to accomplish this,” said Newport Beach attorney Bryant K. Calloway, who is representing the woman with co-counsel Milton C. Grimes.

According to the suit, Driver continued to harass the woman with phone calls. She tried to avoid him, but when he further threatened her, she agreed to let him come over again, planning to be gone by the time he arrived, the suit said.

But Driver “caught her in the driveway area of her apartment and forced her back into the garage” where he again forced her to perform a sex act as she “sobbed openly,” the suit says.

The woman ran inside and called police, who took samples of semen she had spit into the sink and later found they matched Driver’s, the suit said. Grimes said Driver first denied having any sexual contact with the woman. When he was confronted with the test results, he said the sex had been consensual, Grimes said.

The attorneys said Driver had been disciplined before for sexually harassing a female cadet.

“The city is liable because they had a bad officer,” Calloway said. “They had hired him. They had noticed he had a problem. They had taken disciplinary action against him, and they kept him on. They allowed him to do this to this girl.”

Browne said he could not comment on the details of the investigation of Driver nor on prior disciplinary action against him, because of the pending litigation. But he said the department acted immediately and appropriately.

“When the complaint was brought to our attention, we did investigate it thoroughly,” Browne said. “As a result of that, officer Driver’s relationship with the Orange Police Department was terminated.”

Driver could not be reached for comment. His sister said Wednesday night that he has moved to the East Coast. She said she could not comment on the allegations against him.

The plaintiff, who is not being named because of the nature of her allegations, had a prior drug problem and had spent time in jail, but had not been using drugs for about a year when the incident occurred, Calloway said. She was distraught over news that her grandfather had just died and had been drinking when Driver arrested her. Her blood alcohol level measured .18.

Calloway said her history made her particularly vulnerable to the 6-foot-2-inch officer’s threats of jail time.

“This man is an intimidating figure,” he said. “You add the badge and the gun, and her fear of going to jail. . . . These are horrendous circumstances, and this man took advantage of that. Just because somebody doesn’t enjoy a Harvard college-educated background doesn’t mean they don’t have rights.”

Calloway said he and Grimes took the case in March to the Orange County district attorney’s office, but it declined to prosecute. They then approached the state attorney general’s office, but it also declined to take the case.

“I think he should have been criminally prosecuted,” Calloway said.

The lawsuit also alleges that the city of Orange and Orange Police Department created “false reports regarding the incidents” and concocted false evidence.

It alleges that the conduct is the result of broader department “policies, practices and customs” to “intimidate and treat women [differently], to subject persons to outrageous and unreasonable seizures and dehumanizing abuse and to cover-up incidents of such conduct by police officers.”

Browne strongly denied those allegations and said the department took appropriate action against Driver.

“The Orange Police Department treats everybody with dignity and with respect. We have in the past and we will continue to do so,” Browne said.

“Unfortunately, we draw our employees from the human race. Like all humans, we have officers who occasionally make mistakes. When it’s brought to light that someone has made a mistake, we do everything in our power to rectify the issue.”

Grimes said the woman, who is in her mid-20s and was working at an animal hospital at the time of the incident, is now unemployed and suffering from emotional trauma.