New York

NYPD Detectives Resign Following Rape Arrests

What to Know

  • Eddie Martins and Richard Hall have resigned from the NYPD following their arrests on rape acharges
  • The detectives are accused of taking turns raping a handcuffed woman inside a police van in Coney Island in September
  • Prosecutors allege they veered away from their team, pulled over a woman, found drugs and took her into a van, where they raped her

The two NYPD detectives accused of raping a handcuffed 18-year-old woman inside a police van in Brooklyn earlier this year have resigned.

The NYPD says Eddie Martins, 37, and Richard Hall, 32, who had been suspended without pay from their assignments at NYPD Brooklyn South Narcotics, have left the department following their arrests last week

A spokesman said the officers appeared at police headquarters Monday morning to quit their employment with the NYPD. 

Martins and Hall were arrested Monday on a 50-count indictment charging them with first-degree rape, second-degree kidnapping, official misconduct and other counts. They were freed on $250,000 and $100,000 bail, respectively, after their court appearances. 

NYPD Commissioner James O'Neill said in a statement he would have fired the officers immediately if the charges had been upheld in a departmental trial. 

"When a member of the NYPD is indicted on serious charges like these, it tarnishes all of the admirable things accomplished by other, good officers every day in neighborhoods across New York City," he said. "It also stains the legacies of those who paid the ultimate sacrifice in service to New Yorkers."

The officers' attorneys last week vowed to fight the charges. 

"We don't believe they have the evidence to support the majority of charges that are alleged," said Mark Bederow, attorney for Martins. 

According to the indictment, the detectives were on duty and riding in a Dodge Caravan on Sept. 15, working as part of a team of plainclothes cops assigned to the narcotics unit and conducting a buy-and-bust operation in the 60th Precinct. They left their post without authorization and drove to Calvert Vaux Park in Gravesend, according to the indictment. 

Shortly after 8 p.m., the officers stopped an Infinity Couple driven by an 18-year-old woman. Two male passengers were in the vehicle and there was marijuana in the front seat cup holder, court documents say. The officers told the trio to get out of the vehicle and asked if they had drugs. According to court documents, the woman said she had pot and two Klonopin pills, at which point the cops cuffed her, told her she was under arrest and said she would be issued a desk appearance ticket. They let the men go and told them to come get their friend from the precinct in three hours, prosecutors said. 

The cops and woman left the park, and then the detectives allegedly told the young woman to call her friends and tell them not to follow their van. Martins allegedly told her he and his partner were "freaks" and asked what she wanted to do to get out of the arrest, according to court documents. Prosecutors allege Martins then forced the handcuffed woman to perform a sex act on him as Hall drove the van and watched through the rear view mirror.

Martins then allegedly raped the young woman, prosecutors say. Later, the officers allegedly pulled over and switched places, then Hall allegedly forced the woman to perform a sex act on him. According to court documents, the officers drove back to the 60th Precinct, told the victims to call her friends to come get her, then allegedly gave her back her Klonopin pills, told her to keep her mouth shut and released her. 

Prosecutors say the woman told her friends she had been attacked and was later taken to a hospital, where a rape kit was conducted. Prosecutors say DNA recovered from the woman was a match to both detectives. 

The defense attorneys for the detectives argued the victim's story lacks credibility, that she may have a financial motive and that the charges contradict themselves.

Bederow said the officers aren't denying they had sex with the teen but are adamant it wasn't rape.

"The DNA evidence they cited does not establish a forcible compulsion angle of the case. End of story," he said.

Sarah Wallace contributed to this story. 

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