NYPD Investigating Cop Rape Victim’s Police Intimidation Claim

Detectives Eddie Martins and Richard Hall

The NYPD opened an investigation Friday into whether cops tried to pressure an 18-year-old woman who claimed she was raped by two detectives in Brooklyn to withdraw her allegations.

The allegations came from the alleged victim’s lawyer Michael David, who said nine police officers from the 60th Precinct tried to intimidate her to back off at when she and her mom went to Maimonides Medical Center at about midnight on Sept. 16. She was there to get a rape kit.

“They were trying to get her to go back on her story and say they weren’t real cops,” said David, who represents the victim in her impending lawsuit against the city.

But a high ranking police source expressed heavy skepticism about the claim.

“They were doing a field investigation and when they determined what it was, they moved forward with the investigation,” the official said. “This is about the lawsuit.”

The woman, who uses the moniker Anna Chambers on social media, has alleged that then narcotics Detectives Eddie Martins and Richard Hall encountered her and two friends at Calvert Vaux Park in Gravesend at around 8:30 p.m. on Sept. 15. They allegedly handcuffed and raped her in a police van.

In October, a Brooklyn grand jury indicted Martins and Hall on rape, kidnapping and official misconduct charges.

Martins and Hall were demoted and then quit the NYPD on Nov. 6 ahead of a trial on departmental charges. They have claimed the encounter was consensual and denied handcuffing her.

David said he first learned of the alleged intimidation about 10 days ago when the accuser’s mother blurted it out. He said he is adding the intimidation allegation on Monday to the notice of claim he filed with the city.

Martins’ lawyer Mark Bederow tried throwing cold water on the claim, noted that Chambers was interviewed the NYPD’s Internal Affairs Bureau on Sept. 16 and if she made the allegation then presumably it would have been part of the prosecutor’s case.

“If she told this to IAB on Sept. 16, why didn’t he cite his outrage when he slammed the DA for moving slowly because of his concern they were protecting the detectives?” he said.

“The fact that he is making this spectacular accusation more than two months after it occurred, given his propensity to talk to the press about the details of this case, suggests that this claim is not credible.”

David said Internal Affairs was only focused on the rape, and claimed investigators didn’t talk long to Chambers.

Bederow maintained his client had nothing to do with any intimidation efforts.

“To link Martins to allegations that precinct cops unrelated to Martins or his command questioned her intently about whether cops were involved in a sexual assault is irresponsible and demonstrates the lawyer’s profound lack of understanding of how the police department operates,” Bederow said.

According to sources, Internal Affairs went to a judge and sought a warrant for the detectives’ handcuffs on Sept. 17 within 24 hours of starting the investigation.

The woman told prosecutors that after getting her into the van, Martins had her call her friends and tell them not to follow them, prosecutors said.

For full story visit: http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/nyc-crime/nypd-probing-cops-teen-withdraw-rape-claims-article-1.3655001