Nurse Claims Detention Officer Assaulted Her At Tulsa Jail

A nurse said a Tulsa County Sheriff's Office detention officer assaulted her while working inside the jail.

The Tulsa County district attorney has asked the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation to investigate as TCSO conducts its own investigation.

Vickie Day has only worked at the jail for about two months and said she’s speaking up to protect others. She said there's already enough to worry about working inside a jail, and she certainly never thought a detention officer would be a threat.

As a nurse inside the Tulsa County Jail, Day's patients are all inmates, but she sees past the handcuffs.

"I treat them with respect like I was trained to do and they treat me with respect back," she said.

She had no idea a detention officer wouldn't do the same. Day claims she was groped while inside a pod, giving inmates their medications.

"I bent over to get my third drawer, my bottom drawer. I felt a hand all the way from the bottom of my rear to the top," she said.

Day said she stood up, looked behind her and saw a detention officer.

"He says 'I didn't do that on purpose' and I said 'you almost got hit.' I didn't know how to react. I was mad, obviously, and felt awkward," she said.

She finished handing out medicine and left but felt there was no way it was an accident.

Melissa: "Do you feel like he has done this to other woman and gotten away with it?
Day: “I do. I feel like there is a great possibility of it."

Surveillance cameras caught it all, but even after reviewing the video with supervisors, Day said at least one deputy discouraged her from pressing charges.

Day said he told her, “You know the man you are accusing of doing this is a happily married man of 40 years."

She said that's no excuse.

"I hope that he gets punished because anyone else that would have done it - if it were one of my patients that did it - they would be getting more time,” Day said.

The Tulsa County district attorney said they've reviewed the video and requested OSBI investigate, as well as sent it to grand jury legal advisors.

Day hopes pressing charges helps other sexual assault victims do the same.

"If it helps one person step forward and say what happened, because it's not right, and they need to be stopped because they will keep doing it to someone else,” she said.

Tulsa County Sheriff's Office said it has received Day's complaint and is conducting its own investigation but cannot comment on the case since it involves personnel.

We asked for a copy of the surveillance video but were denied.