I’ve previously confessed to following fascinating New York City crime trials. Sometimes the court case concerns a story I wasn’t familiar with but my current mild obsession involves a case I’ve been watching since it first hit the New York Post.
Here are the facts: A cab driver calls police because a very drunk, incoherent woman is vomiting in his cab. He’s afraid she’ll get hurt if he just dumps her off but he wants her out of the car. After escorting the woman up to her apartment, the cops lift her keys and return to her place several more times during the night. One cop calls 911 and claims to be “John Edwards from Canada” reporting a homeless man sleeping in a vestibule a few doors away from the woman’s apartment, thus giving them a reason to stay in the area. Those are the only details not in dispute.
She says one of the cops raped her. He says he didn’t. His partner admits that he was in her living room looking at a magazine while his buddy was alone with the woman for some time, but he figured they were just talking. The woman has a tape recording of the so-called “rape cop” admitting that he used a condom and telling her not to worry. He also says he’d like to be her boyfriend if she stops drinking. (He’s a married father, by the way.) In his latest testimony he claims to have lied that he actually had sex with her because she was hysterical and threatening to go to his superiors and tell them what happened. On the tape he also tells her that “a lot more happened” between them and that his partner didn’t have sex with her. “It was just me”, he said. On the witness stand he said it was all lies.
It’s fascinating because why would two honest cops who mean no harm take her keys and return to her place several more times after creating a cover story for their whereabouts? They claim they were concerned for her and wanted to check up on her. So why lie about where they were? Why would a cop ever confess to doing something he didn’t do and then offer to be her boyfriend? “I’m a good guy to know”, he said. As for the other cop, lying for his buddy doesn’t really surprise anyone.
The evidence doesn’t point to a clean, well-mannered officer who was overwhelmed with worry for the drunk lady. There was cover-up and collusion from the moment they entered her apartment. I know that there are women out there who are insane and would make up stories about being attacked but from where I sit and from everything I’ve read, this lady isn’t one of them. Testimony continues today.