There is a bizarre new twist to the tale of the Portland police officer who, because of his sexual harassment, was transferred out of his unit — to supervise the Sex Crimes unit where some of his victims worked.  See our story from January 30th.   

According to The Oregonian, the police chief who transfered him now contends that he didn’t consider the officer’s touching for which he was disciplined to be "sexual in nature. It was inappropriate contact in a meeting. The women never complained it was a sexual encounter."

However, the same police chief said in a letter demoting the officer that one woman claimed that he "stroked her leg," a second that “he placed his hand on the top of her leg and rubbed back and forth,” and a third that “he touched her thigh and lingered.”

Because an element of sexual harassment is whether the sexual conduct is “unwanted,” University of Oregon Law Professor Caroline A. Forell said that the chief "can say whatever he wants” but that the law doesn’t consider harassment from the point of view of the harasser: "Regardless of what [the officer] intended, if the woman perceived it as sexual or unwelcome, that would rise to sexual harassment."

The story will likely get stranger.