Police Officer Wanted for Harassing, Pressuring College Student for Sex After Traffic Stop

A Louisiana police officer is wanted and faces criminal charges in connection with several allegedly inappropriate interactions with a female college student during and after a traffic stop in June, WBRZ reported.

An arrest warrant was filed against Donald Steele Jr. of the Baton Rouge Police Department on Tuesday afternoon following weeks of investigation. Steele was accused of several sexually inappropriate actions by a 19-year-old student at Southern University after she was pulled over earlier in the summer on suspicion of drunk driving.

The student accused Steele of attempting to kiss her, groping her, propositioning her for sex and using the threat of arrest to coerce her into having sex with him. Steele also allegedly made the student follow him to an abandoned warehouse on the threat of arresting her for driving under the influence.

Steele now faces criminal charges of second-degree kidnapping, malfeasance and misdemeanor sexual battery. Franz Borghardt, the attorney representing Steele, claimed in a statement sent to Newsweek that all interactions between his client and the accuser were consensual. Nevertheless, Steele reportedly intends to turn himself in by Wednesday and fight the allegations in court.

"We believe that Officer Steele is innocent of the alleged crimes and that anything that happened between he and the accuser was consensual," Borghardt's statement said. "We will confront these allegations in a court of law."

"The predictable assertion by Officer Steele that any sexual activity between them was consensual is preposterous and easily disputed by the facts," Ronald Haley, an attorney representing the college, said in a statement sent to Newsweek. "Despite Officer Steele's threats and lewd and incendiary behavior, the victim never replied to any of his messages. Additionally, the victim texted her friend in real time throughout this traumatic ordeal. Finally, GPS data confirms the victim's story about the location Officer Steele forced her to go, offering additional credibility to the fact that the victim is telling the truth, while her attacker uses deceit and victim-blaming to try to get away with these atrocious crimes."

The investigation into the incident found that Steele had seemingly signaled the student with his vehicle's bar lights in a manner that did not automatically activate his dashcam. He also kept his body camera off during the entire interaction. When two other officers arrived on the scene and offered assistance, Steele reportedly claimed that the student was his sister and that no help was needed, which her lawyer called "blatant dishonesty."

"The facts that have come to light about Officer Steele's behavior are extremely telling," Haley said. "First, on the night in question, Officer Steele was patrolling outside of his assigned area and intentionally and purposefully activated his lights in a way that would not trigger the dash camera's recording function, thus demonstrating an obvious and deliberate intent to do wrong. When LSUPD officers pulled up behind Officer Steele and the victim, he thwarted their attempts to assist her by falsely stating that he was with his sister. This blatant dishonesty to other law enforcement officers is significant."

During the initial stop, Steele allegedly "told the victim she wasn't getting a ticket because she was cute." According to court records obtained by The Advocate, Steele did not perform a field sobriety test nor did he issue a ticket during this time.

Later at the warehouse, he allegedly bragged about his sexual prowess, groped her, forcibly kissed her, asked what type of pornography she had watched, asked if she had ever dated another woman, and at one point "began tugging on the waistband of her sweatpants," according to a report filed by detectives in the investigation.

The student was eventually able to leave by claiming she had to go to work but had given her number to Steele. According to messages obtained by officials, he seemed to immediately begin texting her, trying to plan a visit to her apartment.

Steele was placed on leave from the Baton Rouge Police Department following the initial complaint made against him. A seven-year member of the department, Steele was chosen for an officer-of-the-year award in 2018.

Update 8/25/2021 5:00 p.m.: This story has been updated with comments from attorney Ronald Haley.