NYPD sets probe
Reacts to News’ cop abuse story
NYPD’s Internal Affairs Bureau has launched an investigation into allegations made by a former Harlem cop that she was raped and sexually abused by her partner and another police officer, her attorney said Monday.
The bureau contacted attorney Eric Sanders requesting an interview with Maria Mendez about 9 a.m. on Monday, just two hours after the Daily News’ exclusive report on her allegations was posted online. Sanders said he and Mendez plan to speak with the bureau as soon as possible.
In a notice of claim filed with the city last month, Mendez said male 32nd Precinct officers strung her out on painkillers, then threatened to tell her bosses about her opioid abuse if she didn’t have sex with them.
If she protested, the officers beat and raped her, the married mother of four told The News. She said her only way out was to quit the NYPD, which she did in January. “My whole family got ruined,” said the 14-year veteran. “I couldn’t take it anymore.”
In the notice of claim, Mendez (photo) said her patrol partner and another cop in the precinct repeatedly raped her and forced her to perform sexual favors. She also named a former FDNY medic turned firefighter, who she alleged sold her painkillers that he had taken from overdose victims. The News is withholding their names because they haven’t been criminally or departmentally charged.
Between 2014 and 2019, the officers “plied her with alcohol, stolen opioids and MDMA, aka Molly, which they sold to her, then under physical and psychological threat, forced her to perform deviant sexual acts including anal, oral and vaginal sex inside department facilities, vehicles and other locations,” Sanders wrote in the notice of claim, a precursor to a $90 million suit he expects to file.
The NYPD said Mendez never filed an official complaint against the officers named in her notice of claim.
Spokeswoman Mary Frances O’Donnell said Monday, “The NYPD takes all allegations seriously and will review the claim, and initiate any appropriate action.”