Finest no more
2 B’klyn cops accused in teen rape quit
THE TWO Brooklyn cops charged with raping an 18-yearold prisoner inside their police vehicle quit the force Monday.
Officers Eddie Martins and Richard Hall — demoted from being detectives after the stunning accusation — had been scheduled to sit through a department trial on administrative charges.
But their fate was already sealed when they refused to answer questions from Internal Affairs, as required, enabling the NYPD to charge them with violating a department rule and setting the stage for their dismissal.
“Had these charges been upheld in an upcoming departmental trial, I would have fired them immediately,” said Police Commissioner James O’Neill.
“And 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.”
O’Neill said behavior like the allegations against Martins (photo inset right) and Hall (photo inset left) “tarnishes all of the admirable things accomplished by other, good officers every day.”
Mark Bederow, Martins’ lawyer, who escorted him and Hall into Police Headquarters to quit, felt the best chance for his client is “to focus our attention exclusively on exposing the falsity of the criminal charges against him.”
He also said it would have been foolish to have Martins talk to Internal Affairs because the NYPD was leaking information about the case “like sieves.”
Hall’s lawyer, John Arlia, had no comment.
Martins, 37, and Hall, 32, face rape and kidnapping charges in the Sept. 15 incident.
The then-detectives were on duty at the time and assigned to Brooklyn South Narcotics.
They broke away from a buyand-bust operation in Brighton Beach and drove to Calvert Vaux Park in Gravesend, where they conducted a car stop, asking the three people inside if they had any drugs on them.
One of the car’s occupants, an 18-year-old woman, said she had marijuana. She subsequently reported being raped and forced to perform sex acts on both officers after being taken into custody in a park in Gravesend for possession of marijuana and two prescription anti-anxiety pills.
She was handcuffed and driven around in an unmarked NYPD minivan, during which time Martins and Hall described themselves as “freaks” and asked her what she would do to get out of her arrest, prosecutors have said.
At that point, according to prosecutors, Martins forced the victim, still handcuffed, to perform oral sex on him while Hall drove and watched in the rearview mirror. Martins then allegedly raped her as Hall drove to Bay Ridge, where the cops switched places and the victim was forced to perform oral sex on Hall.
The cops then drove the victim to Coney Island, gave her back the pills, dropped her off and told her to keep her mouth shut, prosecutors said.
Martins and Hall have claimed the sex was consensual, police sources said.