A Las Vegas Metropolitan Police officer has found herself on the wrong side of the law following an investigation into misconduct that included running background checks for her civilian friends, making racist jokes and forcing a mentally ill man to “twerk” for the ‘Gram.
LVMPD officer Rachel Sorkow was arrested Tuesday on five counts of felony misconduct, as well as for “capturing the image of the private area of another persons,” and indecent exposure, according to Metro Police. FOX 5 Vegas reported that the department launched an investigation into the patrol cop in September, after new information emerged from a case involving a person on parole.
In one video, Officer Rachel Sorkow fed gummy bears to a handcuffed man while she made airplane noises. (Image courtesy of the Las Vegas Sun)
Sorkow is accused of a laundry list of crimes, including looking up the addresses, arrest records and license plate information on potential boyfriends or girlfriends of friends and family while on the job. Authorities say she also violated department policy by using her cellphone to record videos of civilians, including one in which she filmed a man’s genitals “without that person’s knowledge.”
In the clip, a Black man with a tear in his pants is seen kicking a cop car, which caused his private parts to be exposed. Sorkow then gets on the PA system and tells the man to keep kicking the car while she proceeds to capture images of his genitals. She later sent the video to friends.
After arresting the man, Sorkow tells him to say, “What’s up my nig?” which the man repeats. Authorities said the officer then used a longer version of the slur.
In a 2017 incident, the patrol officer responded to a call about a mentally ill man wearing two dresses, his hair in little pigtails. In the video taken on her cellphone, Sorkow tells the man: “I just want to see you dougie and twerk and then we’re good.” The man starts to dance, and the cop eggs him on.
“Yea! Get it again, one more time,” she says before using a transphobic slur. Sarkow also shared that video with at least three people.
The misconduct did not stop there, however. In January of last year, Sorkow responded to a domestic violence call during which she asked the victim, who was overweight and heavily intoxicated, to show her stomach. Sorkow also joked about the woman’s weight and asked if she ever considered being on the reality show “My 600 Pound Life.”
Other videos showed the officer feeding gummy bears to a handcuffed suspect while she made airplane noises, as if she were entertaining a child. The investigation’s findings led officials to finally dismiss Sorkow this week, months after she was suspended with pay in December.
Attorneys for the officer said their client plans to fight the charges. The Las Vegas Sun reports that Sorkow has since been released on $5,000 bond.
