Hub officer accused of sex assault

Police union calls complaint false

The Boston Police Department is investigating a woman's complaint that she was sexually assaulted by an officer while he was on duty.

A police spokesman said the department has taken no steps to limit the officer's duties while the complaint is investigated.

A lawyer for the police union said yesterday that the accusation against the officer, whose name was not released, is false.

Boston police confirmed that the officer is assigned to District B-3 in Mattapan.

The complaint stems from an incident during which police dispersed a large crowd that was drinking alcohol in a field on Blue Hill Avenue, said Officer James Kenneally, a department spokesman.

Kenneally said the incident occurred within the last couple of weeks, but he was not more specific.

"Due to a complaint being filed, an investigation was initiated by internal affairs," Kenneally said.

Kenneally said decisions on whether to keep an officer on duty while investigating such a complaint is made on a case-by-case basis.

"In this case, the officer is being allowed to work pending the outcome of the investigation," he said.

Tom Drechsler, a lawyer for the Boston Police Patrolmen's Association, said the accused officer did nothing wrong and that the woman gave police inconsistent accounts of what happened. He said that there is no physical evidence to suggest that a crime occurred.

The complaint was first reported yesterday by the Boston Herald.

Jake Wark, a spokesman for the Suffolk district attorney's office, yesterday referred all questions to Boston police, noting that his office does not discuss a police investigation before the issuance of criminal charges.