GREELEY, Colo. --
A Greeley police officer was charged Thursday with sexual assault, accused of molesting a teen girl during a traffic stop.
Daniel Shepherd, 28, was arrested last Friday at the police department. Shepherd was charged with one felony count of sexual assault and one count of official oppression.
According to the arrest affidavit, the incident occurred on March 13 at 20th Street and 28th Avenue in Greeley.
The girl told police that she was asked to leave a party after she got drunk and started yelling at other people.
She said the officer called to the party -- Shepherd -- told her to go home. When she said she would wait for her sister to give her a ride, the officer walked her to her car and started the car for her, even though she was obviously drunk, according to the affidavit.
The teen said she drove a bit and then pulled over to the side of the road, thinking the officer was following her. She said she didn't see him so she drove off again, just to be stopped by Shepherd minutes later.
Once she got out of the car and had her facing the car, the officer held her hands behind her back with one of his hands, grabbed her breasts and put his hands down the front of her pants, she said in the affidavit.
"She said she felt trapped during the patdown and felt if she wouldn't have quickly grabbed her phone and called her sister, it would have gotten worse … She felt the officer could have raped her if she hadn't called her sister," detectives wrote in the affidavit.
When the officer told her she was too drunk to drive and asked, "What should we do about this?" she felt his question was a strong hint for a sexual favor.
While she was on the phone with her sister, the teen suddenly realized that the officer who had just stopped her had left.
The teen was never ticketed or cited.
When investigators first questioned Shepherd, he denied pulling her over and said that he only had contact with her at the party.
An electronic device confirmed Shepherd's car was stationary at the alleged assault location for five minutes. Shepherd later admitted he did stop the teen but denied groping her.
Shepherd is out on $50,000 bond and due in court next month.
He has been a police officer for three years.
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