CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Derek S. Snavely, who was accused of raping a woman while on duty as a West Virginia State Police officer last year, is now police chief in Hinton.

A receptionist at the Hinton city building confirmed Snavely was the chief. Calls to Snavely and Mayor Joe Blankenship were not returned.

In an interview with The Charleston Gazette in December 2008, the woman said Snavely told her she was driving in the middle of the road, then performed a field sobriety test on her. She asked him if she was going to get a DUI, and he told her he didn't think she was that drunk.

Eventually they drove in separate cars to another spot, where Snavely, who is in his early 20s, began kissing and fondling her, she said. Then they drove in separate cars to her house, she said. "I went in survival mode," she said at the time. "I couldn't call anybody because he was the police."

Kanawha County prosecutors declined to bring charges against Snavely after reviewing the evidence, said Dan Holstein, assistant prosecutor for Kanawha County. The case was independently reviewed by two assistant prosecutors and they agreed that there was no prosecutable offense, he said.

In documents filed in the civil case against Snavely, he admits he had sex with the woman, though he denies many of the details of what his accuser says happened that evening.

"To have a sex offense under those circumstances, you have to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that there was forcible compulsion. ... And in this case there was no resistance at all, not even in word," Holstein said.

Snavely resigned before State Police finished their investigation of the incident and turned the material over to the prosecutor's office, said Sgt. Michael Baylous, public information officer for the State Police.

Prosecutors reviewed all the evidence, including a videotape inside the woman's home that shows the officer there that night.

"If the Legislature wants to make it a crime to have sex with someone on duty, they can do that," Holstein said. "But so far they haven't. Just because he was a police officer and on duty doesn't mean it was a crime."

The accuser's lawyer, Mike Clifford, admits his client didn't resist. He says she couldn't under the circumstances.

"Any time a state trooper is in a squad car in uniform with a gun and a badge, the standing and negotiation powers for sex or anything else is severely restricted," Clifford said.

Clifford, who has filed multiple lawsuits accusing police officers of wrongdoing in the past year, said he tells his clients that it's best to follow police orders when they are stopped.

"Go along with whatever they do. We have the option in open court to figure it out," he said.

Problems in Hinton

There have already been allegations that Snavely, who has worked in Hinton for months, is harassing local citizens, said Andrew Maier, a local lawyer.

A receptionist at the Hinton city building confirmed Snavely was the chief. Calls to Snavely and Mayor Joe Blankenship were not returned.

In an interview with The Charleston Gazette in December 2008, the woman said Snavely told her she was driving in the middle of the road, then performed a field sobriety test on her. She asked him if she was going to get a DUI, and he told her he didn't think she was that drunk.

Eventually they drove in separate cars to another spot, where Snavely, who is in his early 20s, began kissing and fondling her, she said. Then they drove in separate cars to her house, she said. "I went in survival mode," she said at the time. "I couldn't call anybody because he was the police."

Kanawha County prosecutors declined to bring charges against Snavely after reviewing the evidence, said Dan Holstein, assistant prosecutor for Kanawha County. The case was independently reviewed by two assistant prosecutors and they agreed that there was no prosecutable offense, he said.

In documents filed in the civil case against Snavely, he admits he had sex with the woman, though he denies many of the details of what his accuser says happened that evening.

"To have a sex offense under those circumstances, you have to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that there was forcible compulsion. ... And in this case there was no resistance at all, not even in word," Holstein said.

Snavely resigned before State Police finished their investigation of the incident and turned the material over to the prosecutor's office, said Sgt. Michael Baylous, public information officer for the State Police.

Prosecutors reviewed all the evidence, including a videotape inside the woman's home that shows the officer there that night.

"If the Legislature wants to make it a crime to have sex with someone on duty, they can do that," Holstein said. "But so far they haven't. Just because he was a police officer and on duty doesn't mean it was a crime."

The accuser's lawyer, Mike Clifford, admits his client didn't resist. He says she couldn't under the circumstances.

"Any time a state trooper is in a squad car in uniform with a gun and a badge, the standing and negotiation powers for sex or anything else is severely restricted," Clifford said.

Clifford, who has filed multiple lawsuits accusing police officers of wrongdoing in the past year, said he tells his clients that it's best to follow police orders when they are stopped.

"Go along with whatever they do. We have the option in open court to figure it out," he said.

Problems in Hinton

There have already been allegations that Snavely, who has worked in Hinton for months, is harassing local citizens, said Andrew Maier, a local lawyer.

Robin Crawford said Snavely harassed him in August while giving him a parking ticket in the Summers County town.

Crawford said he came out of the post office and Snavely told him not to drive off because he was going to write him a parking ticket. Crawford said he knew there was no money in the meter and didn't argue. He says he got in his car and waited for the ticket.

"Then he jerks me out of my car and starts barking instructions like I was on a plantation," said Crawford, who is black. "He said, 'I'll take your goddamn ass to jail.'"

Crawford said Snavely didn't hit him.

"I'll give him credit for that. But he felt on me so much I'm wondering whether he's got a thing for me."

This was by no means Crawford's first run-in with Hinton police.

In 1987, Crawford and his cousin, Kenneth Pack, were beaten by four officers from the Hinton police and Summers County sheriff's department.

Then-Summers County prosecutor Joe Aucremanne said there was not enough evidence to bring charges against the officers. The FBI stepped in and federal charges were filed.

Crosses were burned in Crawford's and the Hinton newspaper editor's front lawns, delaying the trial.

A federal jury found former Hinton Police Chief Larry Keaton, city Officer Thomas Cobb and county Deputies Howard Sears and Ronald Hatcher guilty of violating Pack's civil rights. Crawford's case was dropped.

Crawford has been in trouble in the past, too. He once shot a man in a bar fight and was convicted of battering a man in a bar brawl, Aucremanne said.

Crawford said he's witnessed Snavely harassing others while writing tickets.

Maier lives just outside of Hinton and practices law in the local courthouse. He says he never drives in Hinton after dark, and tells his friends to do the same.

"It's hard for me to understand how anybody's going to start a business here with this climate," he said. "I've had too many clients report the same behavior from one officer [Snavely] and this behavior is consistent to what I've come to expect from Hinton police."

Reach Gary Harki at gha...@wvgazette.com or 304-348-5163