New York Detectives Charged With Raping Teen Arrested For Weed
The post New York Detectives Charged With Raping Teen Arrested For Weed appeared first on High Times.
Yesterday, two New York detectives were indicted for raping a teen arrested for weed possession. The detectives are Edward Martins and Richard Hall. The teenager they raped is an 18-year-old woman from Brooklyn.
The Case
Dave Sanders (New York Times); Edward Martins (left) and Richard Hall (third from right)
The lead prosecutor in the case, Frank DeGaetano, detailed the attack yesterday at arraignment.
Last month, an 18-year-old woman was driving around in Brooklyn, New York with two of her friends. Detectives Martins and Hall were working with the anti-drug unit Brooklyn South Narcotics. Martins and Hall, both in plainclothes, left their group to pull over the woman’s car.
According to the report, the detectives saw the woman adjust her bra; they compelled her to expose her bare chest to prove she wasn’t hiding anything. The detectives searched the car and found a small amount of weed in the car’s cupholder and some more in the woman’s purse, as well as a few Klonopin pills.
They placed her in handcuffs, put her in the back seat of their van and drove off.
DeGaetano said that Martins called after the woman’s friends and warned them not to follow the van. Martins told the woman that he and Hall were “freaks.”
According to the prosecutor, he “asked what she wanted to do to avoid being arrested.” Hall and Martins then took turns forcing the woman to perform oral sex. Martins additionally raped her.
They dropped her off five blocks away from their station house and forced her to take a Klonopin.
The woman went to the hospital for a rape kit. Days later, a city medical examiner confirmed that the kit contained both Martins’ and Hall’s sperm.
“Courtesy, Professionalism, Respect”
At the arraignment, a judge set Martins’ bail at $250,000 and Hall’s at $150,000.
They face 50 counts of kidnapping, official misconduct and rape. They both pled not guilty.
Legal representatives for the detectives maintain that Martins and Hall did not brutally attack an 18-year-old woman and are accusing the survivor of lying about the rape to seek financial gain.
Let’s make something perfectly clear: only a minuscule percent of rape reports are false.
About two to eight percent of rape reports are false. Thirty-five to 40 percent of rapes and sexual assaults are not even reported to the police. The low report rates are overwhelmingly due to a culture of doubting and not believing survivors when they come forward.
Given this, it’s totally unsurprising that the detective’s lawyers are calling a teenaged rape survivor a liar. Disgusting and reprehensible, yes. But not at all surprising.
Here’s something that is surprising, however. Traditionally, when a member of law enforcement is facing charges, their coworkers attend the legal proceedings in full uniform to support them. According to reports, there were no officers in court to support Hall and Martins.
Final Hit: New York Detectives Charged With Raping Teen Arrested For Weed
As horrible as it is, police officers sexually assaulting and raping vulnerable civilians is not unheard of. In some cases, the cops use drug possession as a pretense for these attacks, like in the case of these detective charged with raping a teen arrested for weed, and also in the case of Charnesia Corley, who was attacked in 2015 in Texas. But keep in mind that “drug possession” is just a pretense. The cops who perpetrate these attacks didn’t commit these crimes because of weed or any other substance. They attacked these people because they are predators at their core.
The post New York Detectives Charged With Raping Teen Arrested For Weed appeared first on High Times.
