A woman alleges she was sexually assaulted as a minor in 1995 by an on-duty Long Beach police officer who has since retired, according to a lawsuit filed in Los Angeles Superior Court.
The lawsuit, filed on Dec. 28, says Ali Assef, an officer for the Long Beach Police Department from 1987 to 2017, groped and sexually assaulted the plaintiff while in uniform on multiple occasions.
The Long Beach Post is not naming the plaintiff because it generally does not identify survivors of sexual abuse unless they choose to use their names publicly.
Assef declined to comment on the allegations and told the Post he was in the process of hiring private counsel.
The Long Beach Police Department has since opened a criminal investigation into the allegations, according to Allison Gallagher, a spokesperson for the department.
Long Beach is also listed in the complaint because the alleged abuse occurred while Assef was employed by the city. The City’s Attorney’s Office also declined to comment on the allegations because it is active litigation.
According to the lawsuit, Assef met the plaintiff in 1995 while she was 17 years old and working at Dale’s Diner, a restaurant where police officers were often known to eat.
At the time, the plaintiff had dreams of studying criminology at Long Beach City College and eventually becoming a police officer, according to the lawsuit.
One night after her shift at the diner, Assef allegedly approached the plaintiff in his police cruiser while she was walking through an alley to get to her car at the end of her shift.
They talked for a short while before, according to the lawsuit, Assef had her follow his police cruiser to a secluded area where they’d talked some more before he allegedly groped her, sexually assaulted her and made suggestive comments about using his power as an officer to arrest her.
On another occasion, Assef allegedly took the plaintiff to a hotel room 30 minutes away from her vehicle and initiated rough sexual intercourse with her. In the lawsuit, the plaintiff says she felt trapped in the hotel room and was afraid that resisting Assef would hurt her chances of getting into a law enforcement career.
“She held law enforcement in the highest regard, and this completely shattered her image of protecting and serving and how law enforcement officers are supposed to be dedicated to the public,” the plaintiff’s attorney, Timothy Hale, said.
The abuse allegedly lasted less than a year, and ended after Assef suddenly stopped waiting for the plaintiff after work, Hale said.
Although the alleged assault happened nearly 30 years ago, the plaintiff is still able to sue because of a California law that loosened the statute of limitations for three years in sexual abuse cases.
“Most survivors don’t usually tell anyone, and if they do, it’s not until they’re in their 40s or 60s,” Hale said, adding that by then the only recourse they have is through the civil process.
Hale added that his client still lives in fear of the officer, but she broke her silence about the abuse to empower other victims to come forward and hold him accountable for his actions.
“A big part of it is making sure that these departments and agencies can allow for victims to be able to come forward and report these crimes even if the perpetrator is in a position of power,” Hale said. “Imagine how hard it is to be a kid that age and go to the police and tell them one of their own was doing this crime.”
Police investigate hit-and-run that left bicyclist dead along PCH