A woman who says a former West Palm Beach police officer sexually assaulted her in 2025 has sued both the officer and the city, accusing officials of ignoring warning signs before the incident occurred.
According to the lawsuit, internal affairs investigators had already received two complaints against rookie officer Justice Feeley-Carim before prosecutors say he trapped and battered the woman in a Walmart parking lot.
Attorneys for the woman, identified only as a 38-year-old Jane Doe, say city leaders fostered “a culture of lawlessness” within the West Palm Beach Police Department and showed “deliberate indifference” to Feeley-Carim’s conduct.
Reached May 20, both police spokesperson Rachel Leitao and city attorney Kimberly Rothenburg declined to comment. Defense attorney Ian Goldstein, who represents Feeley-Carim in a criminal case stemming from the same incident, said the officer “vehemently denies these false accusations.”
“We are looking forward to clearing Mr. Feeley-Carim’s name in court,” he said.
‘Just touch it’: West Palm lawsuit describes late-night assault
According to court records, the woman was smoking with a friend in a parked car at about 10:15 p.m. on March 26, 2025, when Feeley-Carim approached. State investigators say he pulled his marked police SUV behind the car, blocking them from backing out.
Armed and in uniform, he approached the car tried to open the driver’s door. Finding it locked, he walked to the rear passenger door, opened it and told the woman to get out.
Doe’s attorneys say Feeley-Carim neither identified himself nor asked for Doe’s identification. He didn’t activate his body camera or radio into dispatch, either.
Instead, he told the woman to perform a slow turn while he shined a flashlight over her body. Doe said he told her she looked beautiful, propositioned her for sex and ordered her to touch him through his uniform.
“Feel it, just touch it,” she said Feeley-Carim told her. “Just touch it for a second.”
Doe said she touched him, afraid that her only choices were to comply or go to jail. Afterward, she said he told her to tell her friend to leave and threatened that things would get “a lot worse” for her if he didn’t go immediately.
According to state prosecutors and the federal lawsuit, Feeley-Carim moved his SUV so the friend could back out, then repositioned to keep the woman’s car blocked. Doe, alone in the lot, said she cried and begged Feeley-Carim to let her go home to be with her children.
She said his demeanor changed suddenly when he noticed a surveillance camera on an adjacent building. He told Doe not to tell anyone about what happened, she said, and smiled when she told him she wouldn’t.
He sped out of the lot. The incident, which lasted about 20 minutes and was recorded by that nearby camera, prompted Feeley-Carim’s firing and arrest on charges of false imprisonment, simple battery and misuse of official position.
“These bare allegations are uncorroborated by any evidence or witness testimony, including the friend who the complaining witness claims was present and witnessed the alleged encounter,” Goldstein said.
According to Feeley-Carim’s arrest report, officers interviewed an unnamed civilian who recalled a separate traffic stop in which the officer reportedly asked “Are you trying to f***?”
Attorneys say West Palm officials ignored red flags
Feeley-Carim was hired by the city seven months before the Walmart incident. As part of his background screening, Feeley-Carim took a voice stress analysis exam that, according to court records, flagged him on questions about drug use, undetected crimes, domestic violence and solicitation of sex acts.
When asked why those questions stressed him, Feeley-Carim said he didn’t know. The city hired him on Sept. 3, 2024.
Within six months, two women filed complaints about separate encounters with Feeley-Carim. The first described sexual misconduct. The second described unprofessional conduct toward a female member of the public, improper detention and an unlawful search.
Doe’s attorneys, Jack Scarola and Victoria Mesa-Estrada, said a reasonable employer “would have taken immediate preventive or corrective action, including suspension or termination of Officer Feeley-Carim” upon learning of the two separate incidents.
Feeley-Carim instead remained on full patrol duty while a sergeant investigated.
Attorneys Scarola and Mesa-Estrada pointed to other instances since 2022 in which the West Palm Beach Police Department has arrested its own officers for excessive force, falsified reports, aggravated assault, financial misconduct, and attempted sexual battery.
“The Department is sending the message that officer misconduct will be tolerated and, at most, inadequately addressed after the fact,” they wrote.
Hannah Phillips is a journalist covering public safety and criminal justice at The Palm Beach Post. Reach her at hphillips@pbpost.com.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Woman sues West Palm over ignored complaints against her alleged attacker
Reporting by Hannah Phillips, Palm Beach Post / Palm Beach Post
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