A Pennsylvania police officer allegedly told his sexual assault victim that he hadn’t “intentionally raped” her.
Justin Hain, a 38-year-old officer who has been with the Steelton Borough Police for less than two months, faces several charges of rape in connection with the incident on 10 January.
Pennsylvania State Troopers wrote in an affidavit obtained by WHTM that they responded to a home on Lykens Borough after a woman called authorities. She said that she had just stepped out of the shower and was carrying her small child when Hain, whom she knew beforehand, approached her with a “weird grin.”
The victim told troopers that she asked Mr Hain not to touch her, but he forcibly removed her towel and pinned her down to a couch that was in the room. The woman recounted the moments of horror she lived as she tried to hit the suspect while he allegedly raped her and pushed her head into a corner of the couch.
Following the assault, Mr Hain reportedly left for work and the victim went to a friend’s house before calling law enforcement. She also confronted Mr Hain during a phone call recorded by investigators and asked him why he had raped her despite her pleas for him to stop.
Mr Hain allegedly answered: “I knew you were not into it.”
“It’s probably one of my deplorables, one of my things,” Mr Hain said, according to the affidavit for his arrest. “I’m deeply sorry ... I didn’t intentionally rape you.”
Justin Hain, an officer with the Steelton Borough Police Department in Pennsylvania, has been charged with rape— (WTHM/Steelton Borough Police Department)
Mr Hain faces charges of involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, rape by forcible compulsion, two counts of sexual assault and two misdemeanour counts of indecent assault with forcible compulsion and one count of indecent assault without consent.
He is being held at Dauphin County Prison and his bail has been set at $50,000 ahead of a court appearance on Wednesday.
Mr Hain was sworn in as a patrol officer in late November, according to a press release on the Steelton Borough Police Department’s website.
He has been suspended from his duties and was ordered to not contact the victim, Dauphin County District Attorney Francis Chardo said.
“In any field, there are going to be people who commit grievous offences,” Mr Chardo told WTHM. “When that occurs, we need to take action very, very quickly to ensure that they’re not continuing to carry a gun and carry a badge and potentially abuse their power.”
