A police officer with the North Charleston police department was fired last fall after allegedly attempting to coerce a department store employee into having sex with him.
According to an audio recording obtained exclusively by FITS News, officer Darryl Felkel approached the employee, who has not been identified for privacy purposes, while he was on-duty. At one point, Felkel even joked with the woman about his body camera being accidentally activated during the sexual act (which never took place).
'I'm In Uniform'
A recording of the conversation between Felkel and the woman was turned over to the North Charleston police department last summer and Felkel was relieved from his duty.
"See, I have more to lose – I feel like – than you do," Felkel is heard telling the woman in the recording, trying to explain to her that he is in a more precarious position than her. "I got my body cam on, I'm in uniform."
"You have your body cam on?" the woman asked.
"No, it's not ON on, but it's on me," Felkel responded. "I'd have to put it up somewhere to make sure it didn't turn on accidentally."
"It could turn on?" she asked.
"Well, if you bump it the wrong way," Felkel said.
'It's Got to Be Quick'
During the seven-minute recording, Felkel made repeated attempts to coerce the woman into accompanying him into a back room at a Dillard's department store in Northwood Mall. In fact, on several occasions, he told her he had previously scoped out the area to ensure they would not be caught on any of the video cameras.
"The cameras in the stock room could go on at any time," the woman told Felkel.
"But they don't – I've already checked it," the officer retorted. "I've asked them in the camera room. He said that he's not checked them once. He's not concerned about back here. He's only concerned about out there (on the showroom floor) – about the shoplifters."
The woman refuses to accommodate Felkel's request, telling him she had customers waiting on her assistance but the officer refused to budge.
"You get one every three hours," he responded.
"I mean yeah, but, like ..." she said.
At this point, Felkel pivoted his approach – telling the woman that the liaison would "(have) to be quick."
When she again expressed concern that an associate or a manager might catch them in a compromising position, he reiterated to her that time would be of the essence.
"That's the risk and then that's why it's got to be quick," he said. "You got to go in, do what you're going to do – and get out. You can't dilly dally you have to go in and get it done."
'You're Trying to Coerce Me Sir'
You're trying to coerce me, sir," she said.
As the exchange continued, Felkel asked her whether she had ever had sex at work.
"You've never done it at work?" he asked her.
"No, I've never done it at work," she responded.
"Well, that's awesome – it's fantastic," he said.
When the woman once again expressed concern over losing her job, Felkel went back to his old argument.
"That's why I said it's got to be quick, you can't go in there and have like thirty minutes," he said. "Like if it's not happening, if it's not over in five to ten minutes then you need to be done and go. You tried."
At one point in the conversation, Felkel even instructed her to put a ten-minute timer on her smart phone so she wouldn't "lose track of time."
"When the timer goes off you just got to be done," he said.
However, the woman stood her ground and the conversation ended when she made it expressly clear that she was not interested in Felkel's proposition.
"Okay, I'll drop it," he said. Listen to the audio recording below:
According to the complaint, Felkel first propositioned the woman for sex and when he was denied he asked for oral sex and then just for a "make out session." The woman started discreetly recording the exchange before reporting the officer and handing over the recording to investigators.
Felkel was fired by North Charleston on September 2, 2021 following an internal investigation into the allegations leveled against him. According to Felkel's file with the agency, he was terminated due to "misconduct" – namely "willfully making false, misleading, incomplete, deceitful or incorrect statements to a law enforcement officer."
