Chattanooga Police Chief Fred Fletcher on Tuesday hit the testimony of a Gatlinburg detective in the Ooltewah rape case for minimizing the charges.
Chief Fletcher, in a Facebook post, strongly disagreed with Detective Rodney Burns, saying that using a pool cue in the rectum of four clothed young basketball team members constituted rape.
Chief Fletcher said, “As a police leader and a former sex crimes detective and as a human being who cares about the respect and dignity of all persons including, especially, victims of violent crime allow me to be abundantly clear about something very important.
"The allegations being adjudicated against several young men in our community constitute rape. Not simply hazing, or bullying, or teasing, or horseplay. Rape. A violent crime.
"It is ultimately for a jury to decide the outcome of these allegations and that is as it should be.
"But the allegations and charges clearly constitute rape. Period. For anyone, including a police officer, to suggest otherwise minimizes the severity of this incident, the experience of the victim and, ultimately, makes life more dangerous for current and future victims.
"Tennessee Law is very clear on this matter:
"Rape is unlawful sexual penetration of a victim by the defendant or of the defendant by a victim accompanied by any of the following circumstances:
(1) Force or coercion is used to accomplish the act;
(2) The sexual penetration is accomplished without the consent of the victim
(7) “Sexual penetration” means sexual intercourse or any other intrusion, however slight, of any part of a person’s body or of any object into the genital or anal openings of the victim…”