BATON ROUGE - Nearly three years after a Baton Rouge Police officer was arrested for kidnapping a college student, groping her and going through her phone, the woman faced her attacker in court.

Former BRPD officer Donald Steele's trial for second-degree kidnapping and malfeasance charges started Monday with the victim taking the stand. 

The woman said she was pulled over by Steele near LSU’s campus in 2021 when she was 19 years old. Steele flashed blue lights in his police unit and told her she was pulled over for driving under the influence. Instead of asking for her license and registration, Steele took her phone and sent messages to himself. He told the woman he would not give her a ticket because he thought she was pretty.

The victim said Steele threatened to arrest her if she didn’t follow him to a spot near the airport. They pulled into a warehouse, and that’s where prosecutors say Steele groped the victim. During their interaction, he offered to get the victim in touch with people who he knew would pay her for sex.

Attorney Ron Haley is the victim’s attorney for a separate civil trial against Steele. Haley says he’s proud of his client for stepping up. 

“She did something that many victims do not have the stomach to do,” Haley said. "Former officer Steele was wrong. Former officer Steele's actions were illegal, and former officer Steele -- hopefully after the trial will be held accountable.”

GPS records showed that Steele was not in the area he was assigned to patrol that night. He was assigned to Scotlandville, but was two districts away near LSU. In court, his former supervisors said that Steele was supposed to notify them if he traveled outside of the district while on shift, but he never alerted his superiors.

During the initial interaction with the victim, Steele’s body cam was not on. Investigators said it was turned on for a few seconds, but quickly turned off during the encounter. The dash cam is signaled to turn on when an officer pulls someone over, but investigators say because Steele used the blue indicators, the camera did not turn on. 

While parked near LSU two officers confirmed they saw Steele stopped with a woman. Steele told the officers he was talking to his sister and said everything was ok. The defense asked why the victim didn’t try to get help from the LSU officers or run away at the warehouse. Steele’s accuser said she was afraid he would try to hurt her. She also worried that Steele knew where she lived and would follow her, if she left.

The trial is set to continue Tuesday morning.