Cops Accused in Coney Island Rape Quit Police Force Ahead of Departmental Trial
The two NYPD officers accused of raping an 18-year old woman they arrested last month quit the force yesterday, November 6, in advance of an internal department trial.
The trial was due to begin Thursday, November 9, according to a statement by the NYPD, and officers Richard Hall and Eddie Martins were “facing possible immediate termination.”
The officers still face a 50-count indictment, which Acting Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzales announced last week. Hall and Martins will return to court on January 18, 2018, and each face up to 25 years in prison.
“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. It also stains the legacies of those who paid the ultimate sacrifice in service to New Yorkers,” said Police Commissioner James P. O’Neill in a statement.
Had the charges been upheld in a departmental trial, “I would have fired them immediately,” he added.
“I would have done so on behalf of every NYPD cop, because we owe the communities we serve – as well as the honest, hardworking men and women of this department – nothing less,” said the commissioner.
