A 24-year veteran detective in McMinn County, Tennessee, was suspended for three days without pay after taking an alleged teenage rape victim out of town in a county car to get an abortion.
Sheriff Joe Guy called the trip an “error in procedure” and said longtime sheriff’s Detective Greg Earps had the permission of the 17-year-old’s parents to take her to Knoxville for the procedure in his effort to get DNA evidence for the case.
But the way it happened violates departmental policies, said Guy, who learned of the trip the next day.
According to a statement issued Friday by Guy, Earps was investigating the alleged rape case in March in which evidence indicated the incident resulted in pregnancy.
During the course of the investigation, the teen told her parents and Earps she wanted an abortion and with the consent of the juvenile’s parents, “Earps offered to provide transportation to the [medical] procedure with the intent of collecting DNA evidence that could possibly be used to prosecute the offender,” according to the statement.