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Woman says Detroit police officer stole nude images, videos from her phone
A woman says a Detroit police officer sent himself nude photos from her phone during and arrest. Now Samantha Thomason is worried for herself and family, for possible retaliation for speaking up.
DETROIT (FOX 2) - A woman says a Detroit police officer sent himself nude photos from her phone during and arrest.
The backstory:
Now Samantha Thomason is worried for herself and family, for possible retaliation for speaking up.
This happened after she realized a dozen of her most intimate photos and videos were exposed while she was sitting in handcuffs in the back of a cop car.
"I would never think a police officer would do that," said Thomason.
It started with a traffic stop last week – on Detroit’s east side, the 21-year-old was behind the wheel.
"When I left the store they ended up following my car and pulled me over at the light," she said.
She had a warrant for a probation violation out of Canton – it landed her in the back of Officer Derond Crawford’s cop car.
Then an odd request from the Detroit police officer – Crawford said he needed her phone, to retrieve a phone number.
She complied, in handcuffs after all.
"When I got to Canton, they let me use my phone to make a phone call. When I opened my phone, I had seen it like, and I was like, 'What is this?'"
FOX 2: "What did he send himself?"
"He sent himself 11 or 12 videos or photos out of my hidden gallery that were explicit, sexual videos and pictures of me," Thomason said.
She says he left a trail – that didn’t make it very hard for Detroit Police Internal Affairs to track the number to Crawford.
He’s now charged with multiple felonies – given a personal bond and he’s on house arrest with a tether.
FOX 2: "Even if you’re in trouble, you still have rights. How do you feel about police now?"
"Scared, terrified, I don’t want to leave my house," she said. "They know my car and I’m scared they’re going to try and mess with me because that might be their friend."
Thomason said that Crawford stopped by her house at 7:30 a.m, the next morning while off-duty and knocked on the door. He was in uniform and claimed he had a warrant for her arrest.
Thomason, however, knew something was off and called 911.
Samantha Thomason. Inset: DPD Officer Derond Crawford.
The Source: Information for this story is from the Wayne County Prosecutor's Office and an interview with Samantha Thomason.