How a white lady ruined a black cop’s life after pool threesome
A black cop lost everything after he was falsely accused of raping his best friend’s white neighbor in a threesome on his birthday.
Freddie Douglas, 43, had to be bailed out by his elderly mother and sell his house to pay legal bills after he was fired upon being charged with rape last December.
The father-of-two was only saved because his friend John Marks had a security system that recorded everything and proved the sex was consensual.
Douglas is suing the Manvel Police Department and Marks’ neighbor Amanda Zawieruszynski, who made the false rape and kidnapping claims.
He thanked his wife, Stefanie Coffman-Douglas, for sticking by him in a Facebook post when the charges were finally dropped, but it was not clear if they stayed together or were just amicably co-parenting.
Freddie Douglas, 43, lost almost everything after he was falsely accused of raping his best friend’s white neighbor in a threesome on his birthday
Amanda Zawieruszynski (pictured) claimed Douglas and his best friend, John Marks, kidnapped and raped her inside Marks’ home on November 8 and 9
Until his arrest on December 7, Douglas was a respected detective at the El Campo Police Department since 2011, and named Officer of the Year for 2020.
The lawsuit filed in federal court on Thursday detailed how the decorated cop’s nightmare began when he met Zawieruszynski, 40, for the first time at Marks’ house in Manvel, just outside Houston, on November 8.
Marks, 41, bought the newly built five-bedroom, three-and-a-half-bathroom house on Palermo Way for $629,950 last May and soon met his new neighbor across the street.
He and Zawieruszynski soon began a months-long sexual relationship as she had separated from her husband, Michael, earlier that year.
Douglas, who called Marks his ‘longtime best friend’, came over early in the afternoon and soon met Zawieruszynski, who arrived with a tray of cupcakes she baked for his birthday.
Marks (pictured), 41, was accused of raping his white neighbor and filed a lawsuit claiming his home security cameras proved his innocence
Marks and Zawieruszynski soon began a months-long sexual relationship as she had separated from her husband Michael earlier that year (pictured together before the marriage ended)
Marks and Douglas later went to a Houston Rockets basketball game, and texted with Zawieruszynski to confirm they would have a late-night swim in Marks’ pool.
The friends returned about 10pm and Zawieruszynski soon joined them, wearing a bathing suit under her clothes.
They drank and swam in the pool naked, but no one got drunk, according to the lawsuit, and then Zawieruszynski and Marks had sex in the pool.
‘After that, Zawieruszynski wanted to have sex with Douglas and did. This sexual activity was completely consensual on the part of all involved,’ the lawsuit read.
Marks filmed his friend and neighbor having sex on his phone, all of which was also recorded by his security cameras.
Zawieruszynski could be heard joking ‘you will have to buy me flowers first’ to Marks as she swam in the pool and at no point looked uncomfortable, the lawsuit claimed.
The lawsuit explained that Zawieruszynski was recorded inside the house for some time while the men stayed by the pool, and could easily have left if she was fearful.
Zawieruszynski did not contact police until three weeks later on November 30, when she was interviewed by officer Taner Truitt.
She admitted to the ongoing affair with Marks, that she texted the pair to confirm the evening plans, and that she came for a swim.
Douglas is suing the Manvel Police Department and Marks’ neighbor Amanda Zawieruszynski, who made the false rape and kidnapping claims
Douglas (pictured with his wife and eldest daughter) had to be bailed out by his elderly mother and sell his house to pay legal bills after he was fired upon being charged with rape last December
But her story changed when she claimed that despite doing it many times before, this time, she refused to swim naked in the pool and have sex.
‘She claimed that she tried to fight Marks off. She claimed that he then pushed her over to Douglas who had sex with her while she was trying to fight him off,’ the lawsuit explained.
Zawieruszynski also claimed the pair threatened her and she was so afraid of them that they had to be arrested immediately.
Truitt told her they would need to ‘get their side of the story’ first, but the lawsuit claimed that never happened.
Instead, police are accused of bypassing the Brazoria County District Attorney’s Office and going to Justice of the Peace Richard Davis to get an arrest warrant.
Davis was given a sworn complaint that the lawsuit claimed deliberately left out key details, such as the pre-existing affair and that neither suspect was interviewed.
Douglas was at work on December 7 helping make the police department’s float for the local Christmas parade.
El Campo Police Chief David Marcaurele approached him in the parking lot and asked him where his service weapon was.
‘Freddie, I have bad news, you are being charged with aggravated sexual assault. I need you to come inside,’ he said, according to the lawsuit.
Zawieruszynski did not contact police until three weeks later on November 30, when she was interviewed by officer Taner Truitt
Once in the chief’s office, he was arrested by Manvel officers and taken to the Brazoria County Jail.
‘He immediately knew that he had done nothing wrong and that there was indisputable evidence that would objectively prove his innocence,’ the lawsuit read.
He was charged with aggravated sexual assault and aggravated kidnapping, and soon summarily terminated from his job.
After spending the night in a freezing cell where, the lawsuit claimed, he was denied a blanket, he was released on $100,000 bail after his mother Alberta Brown put up the required $10,000 bond.
The lawsuit detailed how Douglas was forced to sell the family home in a ‘fire sale’ to pay legal fees and his friends, colleagues and neighbors shunned him.
‘As Freddie Douglas moved around the small town of El Campo, the stares and whispers followed him everywhere,’ the lawsuit read.
‘The grocery store; Walmart; getting gas; at stop lights. In a town like El Campo, if a police officer is arrested and fired summarily by the department, everyone assumes that the accused is guilty.
‘Only Freddie Douglas’ closest friends and family supported him during this time. The result nearly crushed Freddie Douglas’ spirit.
‘His future looked very dark.’
Douglas was released on $100,000 bail after his mother Alberta Brown (pictured together) put up the required $10,000 bond
Until his arrest on December 7, Douglas was a respected detective at the El Campo Police Department since 2011, and named Officer of the Year for 2020 (pictured)
Both Douglas and Marks should have been quickly exonerated, as the security system recorded the entire evening and showed there was no rape.
But despite it being the first thing they told police, the lawsuit alleged investigators were hellbent on convicting them anyway.
Even as police searched Marks’ home they were aware of the footage, and that it could prove their innocence.
‘The ranger says that Marks claims he has video of everything and wants to know if we can obtain that,’ one was caught on saying on the security footage.
Another replied: ‘What if it was consensual? What then?’ and discussion of whether Zawieruszynski making false report would be a crime then ensued.
The DA’s office immediately knew the charges were bogus when they eventually saw the footage, but couldn’t convince police to drop the charges.
Their only option was to take it to a Brazoria County Grand Jury, which in March found that there was no basis for the charges and issued a no-bill.
Douglas thanked his wife Stefanie Coffman-Douglas (pictured with their daughter this year) for sticking by him in a Facebook post when the charges were finally dropped, but it was not clear if they stayed together or were just amicably co-parenting
Douglas was at work on December 7 helping make the police department’s float for the Christmas parade when he was arrested
‘Me and my longtime best friend John Marks went thorough 3 months of hell together and kept each other up daily,’ Douglas wrote on Facebook.
‘It’s takes some strong minds to go though what we we through knowing ur innocence.. big ups to him for orchestrating things and getting this right!
‘We have been rocking since we were kids and could have never imagined anything like this… this has drawn us closer to God and not letting any getting close up on us!! Never again!’
Dozens of friends comment to say they never doubted his innocence and praising Douglas for never giving up.
Douglas’ lawsuit claimed police continued trying to prosecute him even after seeing the CCTV footage that exonerated him.
‘Any reasonable person who looked at this evidence would conclude that Zawieruszynski’s version of events was fabricated,’ it claimed.
‘It was objectively and indisputably established by the video surveillance tapes that Zawieruszynski was a willing participant in the sexual encounters and was never held against her will in any way.
‘Despite access to this evidence, Chief Traylor, Officer Truitt and the Manvel Police Department persisted.
Marks, 41, bought the newly built five-bedroom, three-and-a-half-bathroom house (pictured still under construction) on Palermo Way for $629,950 last May
‘The persecution of Douglas and Marks continued, even after Chief Traylor, Officer Truitt, and Manvel Police Department knew that Zawieruszynski had been completely untruthful about being raped and kidnapped.’
Marks and Douglas filed separate lawsuits against the City of Manvel, three Manvel police officers, and Zawieruszynski for civil rights violations, defamation and malicious prosecution.
They are seeking all available damages, including compensatory, punitive and exemplary damages, as well as attorney’s fees and any other relief the court deems just and proper.
‘This case is not an isolated incident but reflects a time-worn pattern, reminiscent of the injustices depicted in To Kill a Mockingbird, where black men are falsely accused of sexual crimes by white women, and the machinery of law enforcement is all too willing to proceed without question,’ Marks’ lawsuit claimed.
Why Zawieruszynski brought false charges against the men, despite being in a sexual relationship with Marks for months, is unknown.
