Two New York City Police Department officers were charged with allegedly sexually assaulting a handcuffed woman in a van.
Officers Eddie Martins and Richard Hall are accused of abusing the 18-year-old woman after she was arrested in southern Brooklyn, according to The New York Post.
They were indicted on first-degree rape charges after a week-long hearing. It came down to a Friday, Oct. 27, grand jury vote, the report stated.
Sources told the Post that the officers will turn themselves in next week and will be arraigned at the Brooklyn Supreme Court. If convicted, they can get 25 years in prison.
The incident took place Sept. 15 after the victim was arrested on marijuana charges. The two officers then allegedly drove the woman to a restaurant parking lot and she was then assaulted by the two men.
Martins and Hall admitted to NYPD colleagues that the incident took place, claiming that it was a consensual encounter, police sources said.
“We would expect the police commissioner to take immediate action in firing these two officers,” said the victim’s lawyer, Michael David.
He added: “Additionally, we request that all this shaming and smearing of the victim of this vicious attack be stopped immediately.”
“She is not good,” David told the Coney Island News. “She is very depressed over this situation. She’s an emotional wreck right now.”
A lawyer for Martins, Mark Bederow, said he thinks the dynamic of the case will change when court proceedings are underway. “The allegations repeatedly and publicly alleged by the plaintiff’s lawyer will need to be supported by credible evidence and withstand scrutiny,” Bederow said, in a statement.
