LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — A Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department officer faces allegations of abusing his authority during a predawn encounter with a woman outside a local gym. In an exclusive interview with 13 chief investigator Darcy Spears, the woman's attorney says the department's response has been dangerously lacking.
LVMPD has declined to answer questions or to comment on the case and has not charged the officer with a sex crime, despite evidence detailed in an arrest report obtained by Channel 13 on Tuesday.
According to documents obtained by Channel 13, the incident happened in the early morning hours of May 9 outside One Kick's Gym on Sunset and Pecos roads. April, the woman who alleges she was assaulted, lives in her van. She says she awoke to knocking that she thought was security, but instead encountered LVMPD Officer Manuel Ramangmou, who was armed and in uniform.
The arrest report, citing body camera footage, shows Ramangmou ordered April out of her vehicle. Her attorney, Carl Arnold of CEGA Law Group, says she was wearing only a sheer nightgown and underwear.
"And she's terrified. Again, my client is homeless. She lives out of her vehicle," Arnold said.
Arnold is suing Ramangmou — named in the lawsuit as "Officer Manny" — alleging excessive force, sexual battery, false imprisonment, harassment and stalking.
Court records show LVMPD learned of the allegations when the gym's property owner called Internal Affairs "to report an attempted sexual assault" that she had on surveillance video, describing the interaction as "highly inappropriate for a police officer stop."
Police records show Ramangmou, responding to a suspicious vehicle call, collected April's personal information, including her cell phone number, then made repeated remarks about her appearance and asked for a hug, leading her behind bushes that obscured the view of the gym's security cameras.
Arnold says he thinks that demonstrates "that he was either in that area before, or that he was actively looking for cameras when he was making his decision to go ahead and try to have sex with my client."
April says she agreed to a hug out of fear, but alleges Ramangmou groped her and asked for a kiss, which she refused.
"She felt forced, that she had to do this to be let go and to get out of a dangerous situation," Arnold said.
The lawsuit also claims LVMPD failed in its hiring process — noting alleged prior incidents of Ramangmou asking women for inappropriate contact at previous jobs. The arrest report states Ramangmou "recalled three instances where he asked for a hug" while employed at The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas and the Palms Casino Resort.
"At a minimum, it's very negligent. They should have done more extensive background checks," Arnold said.
Detectives note Ramangmou's body camera was on during his initial contact with April, but it was not reactivated when he re-approached April and led her to the bushes. Records show he texted her three times that day and once more in the days following.
Investigators state Ramangmou initially lied about the encounter but admitted details after learning about the surveillance footage. He "agreed April may have felt like she had to give [him] a hug, and not free to leave, due to the fact that his patrol vehicle blocked her van from moving along as he ordered her to do," the arrest report states. Ramangmou also acknowledged being taught in the police academy "that he should not interact with the public in such a manner, asking for hugs and kisses."
"This guy is mentally sick, for him to be a police officer and then to conduct himself this way," Arnold said.
Ramangmou has been charged with oppression under color of office. He was booked into the Clark County Detention Center and has since posted bail.
"This was clearly battery with the intent to commit sexual assault," Arnold said. "And so for them to undercharge that, to me, it makes it look like the police and the D.A. are colluding to protect this individual."
Arnold tells 13 Investigates he believes there may be other victims, and he is calling on LVMPD to released Ramangmou's jail booking photo so that others may come forward. Channel 13 has also requested Ramangmou's booking photo and asked LVMPD whether more charges could be filed. They have not responded.
Ramangmou did not respond to Channel 13's attempts to reach him by phone and text message.