Crime & Safety

NYPD Detectives Charged With Raping Teen In Coney Island: Reports

The two narcotics detectives have been suspended, the NYPD said.

BROOKLYN, NY — A Brooklyn grand jury indicted two NYPD detectives on first-degree rape charges Thursday in connection with their alleged attack of an 18-year-old woman in Coney Island, according to news reports. Detectives Richard Hall and Edward Martins are accused of raping the woman while she was handcuffed in the back of a police van on Sept. 15.

Hall and Martins are expected to turn themselves in next week to be arraigned in Brooklyn Supreme Court, according to the New York Post which first reported the indictment Friday. Both have been suspended, an NYPD spokesman told Patch.

A spokeswoman for the Brooklyn district attorney's office, which had been investigating the rape allegations, declined to comment on the reported indictment and when details might become public.

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The reported indictment came six weeks after the narcotics detectives arrested the woman and raped her in a Chipotle parking lot, her lawyer, Michael David, told Patch earlier this month. The woman is suing the NYPD for $50 million.

The cops face at least three years and a maximum of 25 years in prison if convicted, the Post reported.

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Hall and Martins have reportedly claimed the sex was consensual, even though the woman was in handcuffs and under arrest at the time.

"We look forward to defending any charges in a court of law rather than in the court of public opinion," Mark Bederow, Martin's lawyer, told the New York Daily News on Friday.

The woman praised the indictment on Twitter.

"Thank you for everyones support for me receiving justice. You guys were a MAJOR help throughout this situation. Thank you all so much," she wrote.

David told The New York Times that his client had become increasingly distressed as the grand jury proceedings wore on. She testified before the grand jury on Monday, the Post reported.

“She was getting more frustrated by the day, this has been going on for six weeks already, and it just seemed she was crying for help,” David told the Times.

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