Seattle Crime Reports : Seattle Crime Blog : Seattle, Washington

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Police misconduct can take many forms and, sadly enough, it often goes unpunished. Tales of officers walking away unscathed from questionable shootings or overly aggressive arrests seem to have become the norm over the last 20 or so years, particularly in Seattle but also in most major cities where population growth and urban expansion have played a role.

All history aside: when it comes to the case of Carlos Torres, a former State Trooper, the courts have proven that justice really is blind.

Torres was recently convicted for sexually assaulting a Federal Way woman after falsely arresting her for DUI in 2005. On Wednesday, a Judge dealt him the maximum one-year sentence for his crime:

A trooper for almost 10 years, Torres, 46, was convicted of first-degree custodial sexual misconduct in March. The victim, a woman from Federal Way, had been driving home late one night in 2005, when Torres pulled her over for a suspected DUI.

Torres told the woman's passengers -- her boyfriend and teenage daughter -- to go home, while he handcuffed her. He took the woman, then 38, to two police stations in search of a working breath-test machine. As he drove around, he began talking about sex, according to prosecutors.

The woman's blood-alcohol level registered at 0.05 percent -- below the legal limit -- but Torres took her to the Pierce County Jail for booking. When the jail was full, he drove her to a deserted weigh station in Federal Way and began asking her about sexual fantasies. Then he sexually assaulted her.

It's a shame that Torres' maximum penalty was just a year - especially when it was known that he had a history of using his position of power to take sexual advantage of women. When you have sworn to protect and serve, you've also made an oath to serve the best interests of citizens everywhere. Torres not only betrayed that oath, he did so in the worst possible way.

But what goes around comes around. And Torres - like so many of the other convicts we've covered in this blog - better watch his ass. Literally.