Good on Benton Co. for firing a deputy who committed a nonviolent sexual assault.
The incident, in which former deputy Matt Cline grabs a woman’s breast, was caught on the department’s security camera. Sheriff Shawn Holloway fired Cline and launched a criminal investigation in Cline’s actions. Holloway also submitted paperwork to the Commission on Law Enforcement Standards and Training to decertify the former deputy. Cline was arrested Wednesday.
According to RAINN (Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network), the nation’s largest anti-sexual violence organization, more than 2 out of every 3 sexual assaults go unreported. For cases that are reported, only 25% end in arrest.
A news release from the sheriff’s department states that “Sheriff Holloway is deeply disturbed by the actions of one of his employees and does not condone this type of behavior.”
A sheriff’s captain who investigated the incident said in the affidavit the video shows Cline leaning on a counter next to a female employee who was seated at a computer. Cline then reached across the woman’s body and touched some papers on the counter to the woman’s right. As he brought his hand back, he quickly fondled the woman’s left breast, according to the affidavit….
Sheriff Shawn Holloway ordered an internal and criminal investigation into Cline’s actions upon learning of the incident around 11:40 a.m. Jan. 26, according to the release. Cline was fired about 2 p.m. that day based on the findings of the investigation, the release states.
