TN trooper under investigation, accused of groping, sexually harassing driver

A Tennessee Highway Patrol trooper has been stripped of his gun and cruiser pending an investigation into allegations he groped a Campbell County mother during a traffic stop and pulled her over a second time three hours later, saying, “We have to stop meeting like this.”

State Trooper Isaiah Lloyd, 25, was placed on desk duty Tuesday after the agency was served with a lawsuit and notice that Lloyd’s own in-cruiser recording equipment captured most of the allegations of assault and sexual harassment the litigation claims.

“We have made the decision effective immediately to place Trooper Lloyd on non-law enforcement administrative duties at the Knoxville THP Headquarters pending a departmental internal investigation,” said Megan Buell, communications director for the Tennessee Department of Safety and Homeland Security.

Buell said Lloyd was hired by THP in February 2015.

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Search for seat belt violation

Attorneys Herbert S. Moncier and Jeffrey Coller have filed a lawsuit against Lloyd on behalf of Patricia Aileen Wilson over two traffic stops the trooper made of Wilson’s vehicle in Campbell County in August – separated by just three hours.

The two stops were captured on Lloyd’s audio and video recording equipment. USA TODAY NETWORK-Tennessee on Tuesday filed a request to review the footage and audio as well as the trooper’s personnel file and any records related to the two traffic stops.

According to the lawsuit, Lloyd first stopped Wilson’s vehicle on Interstate 75 in the southbound lanes in Campbell County. She was headed to a part-time cleaning job, the lawsuit stated, and Lloyd told her that he stopped her because she didn’t have her seat belt on.

“(Wilson) was dressed in her work clothes for the evening janitorial shift at her employment that included tight-fitting shorts and a close-fitting (outer) shirt over a camisole,” the lawsuit stated.

Without legal cause, the lawsuit stated, Lloyd ordered Wilson out of the vehicle so he could search her. There was a passenger in the car – who is not identified in the lawsuit – but Lloyd did not instruct that person to get out of the vehicle.

The trooper “directed (Wilson) to place her hands on the hood of his cruiser and to bend and arch her hips,” the lawsuit stated. “(Lloyd) then used his hands to feel around (Wilson’s) shorts.”

He next ordered her to lift her outer shirt and camisole, according to the lawsuit.

“(Lloyd) then placed his hands in (Wilson’s) shorts, and his fingers were inside (Wilson’s) panties,” the lawsuit stated. “(Lloyd) ran his hands around (Wilson’s) waistline with his fingers inside her panties touching her buttocks and pubic area.”

Wilson, the lawyers wrote, felt humiliated but was afraid to say anything to the trooper because he had the power to arrest her. He wound up giving her a ticket for not buckling up.

'We have to stop meeting like this'

Three hours later, as Wilson was heading home from work, Lloyd again pulled her over, according to the lawsuit. Audio recordings show the trooper told her he had stopped her for “tinted windows.”

“The windows on (Wilson’s) vehicle were in the same condition as they were during the first stop approximately three hours earlier,” the lawsuit stated. He also claimed she was “all over the road.”

When the trooper noticed Wilson’s two children, ages 8 and 3, in the car, he said, “we have to stop meeting like this,” the lawsuit stated.

“(The trooper) claimed he had already got (Wilson) out of two tickets during the earlier stop, and he would not ticket her for window tint,” according to the lawsuit.

Lloyd then asked Wilson where she was headed, the lawsuit stated. Wilson told the trooper she was traveling to the home of her children’s father, which was nearby, according to the lawsuit. He then allowed her to drive away.

The lawsuit seeks $100,000 in damages.