A Dallas police officer who once played football for Southern Methodist University has been arrested, accused of sexually assaulting a woman in a police car while in uniform and on duty.



According to the Dallas Police Department, 28-year-old Police Officer La'Cori Johnson was on duty when he stopped a woman and another person on the 9300 block of Larga Drive on Sept. 9, 2013.

According to an arrest warrant affidavit, Johnson performed a background check on both people and told the woman she had a warrant out for her arrest and told her friend to leave the location. As she was instructed to get into the back of the police car, the woman, whose name is not being released, started to cry.

According to the arrest affidavit, Johnson asked the woman why she was crying and said, "You don't have to go to jail if you do what I tell you to do."

The affidavit said Johnson then drove his patrol car to a dead end behind the Pecan Square Apartments on the 3300 block of Storey Lane. Once parked, the affidavit said, Johnson came to the back seat, removed his gun belt, placed it on the seat and pulled down his pants. According to the affidavit, the woman was directed by Johnson to perform oral sex on him before he had sex with her.

In the affidavit, the woman said she had sex with the officer out of fear because the man was an armed police officer and because she was afraid of going to jail.

After the encounter, the woman told police she was dropped off on Clydesdale Drive and then walked home where she told her mother what had occurred.

On Oct. 4, 2013, the woman reported the incident to the Dallas Police Department and Johnson was immediately placed on administrative leave. At the same time, a criminal investigation by the department's Public Integrity Unit was initiated. That investigation was followed by an Internal Affairs investigation that began on Jan. 24 of this year.

On Tuesday, Johnson was questioned by Internal Affairs detectives. He later resigned from the department and was immediately arrested and booked into the Dallas County Jail. As of this writing, Johnson was being held on $25,000 bond.

Bond for Johnson was faxed into the jail around 10:45 a.m. Wednesday and he was later released.

The sexual assault charge is a 2nd degree felony.

Johnson had been with the department since April 2009 and was assigned to the Northwest Patrol Division. Prior to joining the Dallas Police Department, Johnson attended SMU and played football for the Mustangs between 2004 and 2007.

NBC 5's Ray Villeda contributed to this report.