NEW YORK — Two New York City Police detectives have been indicted for allegedly raping a teenager in a police van in Coney Island last month after handcuffing her and placing her under arrest, acting Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez said Monday.
According to police, on Sept. 15th, around 7:30 p.m., Detective Eddie Martins, 37, and Detective Richard Hall, 32, were on-duty and riding in a Dodge Caravan, working as part of a team of plainclothes detectives assigned to Brooklyn South Narcotics and conducting a buy and bust operation. The pair allegedly left their post and drove to Calvert Vaux Park in Brooklyn, according to WPIX.
Just after 8 p.m., the officers conducted a car stop of an Infinity Coupe driven by an 18-year-old woman with two male passengers. There was a quantity of marijuana in the front seat cup holder. The officers instructed the three occupants to step out of the car and asked if they had any drugs on them, according to the investigation. The young woman responded she had marijuana and two Klonopin pills.
The detectives handcuffed the woman, told her she was under arrest and would be getting a desk appearance ticket. They let her companions go and instructed them to retrieve their friend from the precinct in three hours.
After leaving the park, the officers allegedly instructed the young woman to call her friends and tell them not to follow the minivan.
Detective Martins allegedly told the young woman he and his partner are “freaks” and asked her what she wanted to do to get out of the arrest. Detective Martins allegedly forced the handcuffed teen to perform a sex act on him while seated in the back seat of the van as Detective Hall drove and watched through the rearview mirror. Detective Martins then allegedly raped the victim.
The detectives then stopped the van in Bay Ridge, about four miles from the park in the opposite direction of where their team was located and switched places.
Detective Martins got behind the wheel and Detective Hall got into the back seat of the van, where he allegedly forced the victim to perform a sex act on him. They then drove back to the vicinity of the 60th Precinct in Coney Island and had the victim call her friends again to tell them she was being let go. They also allegedly gave her back the Klonopin pills, told her to keep her mouth shut and released her.
The victim told her friends what happened and, later that evening was taken to Maimonides Hospital, where a sexual assault evidence collection kit was prepared. DNA recovered from the victim was a match to both of the defendants. Video surveillance shows the victim exiting the police van at approximately 8:42 p.m.
The defendants were arraigned Monday before Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Danny Chun on a 50-count indictment in which they are charged with first-degree rape, first-degree criminal sexual act, second-degree kidnapping, official misconduct and related counts.
Martins was ordered held on $250,000 bail and Hall was ordered held on $150,000 bail. If convicted, they each face up to 25 years in prison.
