Prosecutors are hitting a Lauderhill (Fla.) Police officer where it hurts, charging him with a felony for getting a female drunken driver to punch him in the genitals, according to the Broward State Attorney's Office.
Because he liked it, prosecutors said, the officer is being charged with unlawful compensation, defined as the obtaining of an illegal benefit for performing or declining to perform a public duty—in this case, arresting the driver.
A second officer in the case is being accused of having sex with the passenger of the same car, all the while threatening to arrest her as well.
Officers Thomas Merenda and Franklin Hartley turned themselves in Thursday night. Both are charged with unlawful compensation, a felony punishable by up to 15 years in prison, and battery, a misdemeanor punishable by up to 60 days, stemming from a May 24, 2012, encounter with the two women, who had been drinking at the Vegas Cabaret strip club on University Drive.
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