Deputy sexually assaults handcuffed woman he kidnapped during traffic stop, feds say
An Alabama deputy sheriff kidnapped and sexually assaulted a woman who feared he’d shoot her if she didn’t cooperate, according to federal prosecutors.
Now a judge has sentenced Joshua Davidson, 33, to more than a decade in federal prison, according to the Department of Justice.
The case stems from when Davidson pulled the woman over around 8:11 p.m. on Jan. 30, 2020, near B&B Grocers in Selma, when she told the deputy her license was suspended and the car was her sisters’, court documents say.
While on-duty for the Dallas County Sheriff’s Office in Alabama, Davidson questioned the woman about “residue” in her lap — which she said was tobacco — before he removed her from the car, handcuffed her and detained her in the back of his patrol car, according to court documents.
Davidson started to issue a traffic ticket before giving the woman two options: go to jail or perform oral sex on him, a sentencing memorandum filed in court says.
The woman refused to perform oral sex and said “he might as well take her to jail,” according to the sentencing memo, which says she then asked “if he could let her go with a warning because she needed to get home to take care of her young son.”
Instead, Davidson kidnapped the woman, who initially believed she was being taken to jail, and instead drove her down a dark road to a desolate field where he forced her to perform oral sex, according to prosecutors. At the time, his hand was placed on what the woman believed was his gun, the sentencing memo says.
On Aug. 25, Davidson was sentenced to 12.5 years in prison for sexually assaulting the woman, the Department of Justice announced.
“Today’s sentence sends a clear message that officers who abuse their positions of power to sexually assault women in their custody will face significant prison time for their unlawful actions,” Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke, of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, said in a statement.
McClatchy News contacted Gordon Armstrong, Davidson’s attorney, for comment on Aug. 28 and didn’t receive an immediate response.
Armstrong previously told McClatchy News in October, when Davidson was indicted, that he was fired from his position as deputy in early 2020 and has been complying with court orders since.
After Davidson was fired by the Dallas County Sheriff’s Office, he has worked in the private sector, according to Armstrong, who declined to provide more details about his current employment.
Davidson warns woman he’d ‘find her car’ if she speaks up
Following the sexual assault, Davidson said he would destroy the woman’s traffic ticket and told her to never speak of what happened, according to the sentencing memo.
If she did, he threatened to “come back and find her car and charge her with the same thing down the line,” the sentencing memo says.
Davidson then drove the woman to B&B Grocers, “told her to go inside and pretend to buy something,” according to the sentencing memo.
Store surveillance footage recorded the woman walking into the store around 9:07 p.m. when she was seen making a call on her phone, the sentencing memo says.
The footage captured Davidson stepping inside the store a minute later and staring at the woman, who leaves, according to the sentencing memo.
After leaving, the woman immediately called her sister, and told her she was assaulted by the deputy, the sentencing memo says.
Around 9:20 p.m., the sister reported the assault to Dallas County dispatchers, according to the sentencing memo.
Afterward, Davidson misled Alabama Law Enforcement Agency special agents about the assault, an indictment states.
Prosecutors request a lengthier sentence for Davidson
Before Davidson was sentenced to 12.5 years, prosecutors wrote in their sentencing memo that “there is no amount of prison time that can undo the lasting effects that this sexual assault will have on (the woman’s) life.”
“Similarly, there is no amount of prison time that can restore public trust in the law enforcement community, which (Davidson) significantly damaged when he committed this sexual assault.”
They argued in support of a 20-year prison sentence.
Davidson previously pleaded guilty to one count of deprivation of rights under color of law in the case, his plea agreement shows.
As part of the agreement, he agreed to plead guilty to a felony count of first-degree kidnapping in the state case filed against him over the Jan. 30, 2020, incident.
Now he’s due to be sentenced in the state case.
If you have experienced sexual assault and need someone to talk to, call the National Sexual Assault Hotline for support at 1-800-656-4673 or visit the hotline's online chatroom.
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