AUSTIN, Texas _ An Austin police officer has been indefinitely suspended after he shared confidential information with a sexual assault suspect about his accuser on a case the officer was not assigned to, according to a disciplinary memo.
Officer Carlos Mayfield was indefinitely suspended Friday. He can appeal the suspension within 10 days. A criminal investigation into his actions is also pending, the memo says.
Mayfield told investigators he accessed the police report at the behest of an ex-girlfriend of his, who was the mother of the suspect, the memo says. Mayfield also said he revealed details from the police report to both his ex-girlfriend and her son, including the fact that the woman accusing him declined to undergo a rape kit exam.
"Disclosing this fact, which would otherwise never be disclosed to a suspect during the early stages of a police investigation, is unfathomable," the memo says.
Detectives interviewed the suspect after he had gotten details of the report, the memo says. Investigators didn't know he had this information at the time.
Mayfield acknowledged that this compromised the case, the memo says.
Travis County prosecutors ultimately decided not to prosecute "the compromised sexual assault case," the memo says. However, they authorized the Sex Crimes Unit to file assault with injury charges against the suspect.
Mayfield's actions violated the Texas Penal Code and compromised the Austin Police Sex Crimes Unit's investigation, Interim Police Chief Brian Manley said in the memo.
The victim "would justifiably be reluctant to call on law enforcement in the future, in light of Officer Mayfield's inexplicable and callous actions. ... Even if Officer Mayfield's actions were not criminal, they show he cannot be entrusted to continue as a police officer with the APD," the memo says.
