NYPD officers accused of rape quit the force, officials say

Two NYPD officers accused of raping an 18-year-old woman in Brooklyn in September walked into police headquarters in Manhattan on Monday morning and resigned, officials said.

Eddie Martins, 37, and Richard Hall, 32, quit just a week after a Brooklyn grand jury indicted them on rape and other charges after the alleged victim accused them of taking her away in a police van after a drug stop and then forcing her to have sex.

A police source who didn’t want to be named said that by quitting, both Martins and Hall, suspended since their indictment, will be leaving without their pensions. The source couldn’t say whether any part of the resignation had been negotiated with police brass beforehand.

Mark Bederow, who represents Martins, confirmed that his client had resigned. The defense attorney for Hall couldn’t be immediately reached. The two officers have maintained the sex was consensual.

In a statement Monday afternoon, the NYPD said, “Police Officers Eddie Martins and Richard Hall, formerly assigned to Brooklyn South Narcotics Division, appeared on their own at Police Headquarters today and quit their employment with the NYPD. These officers had been previously scheduled for a Departmental trial on Thursday in connection with charges for which they were facing possible immediate termination. Their criminal cases involving charges of Rape and other related felony offenses are still pending in Kings County Supreme Court.”

NYPD Commissioner James P. O’Neill also issued a statement.

“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,” O’Neill said. “It also stains the legacies of those who paid the ultimate sacrifice in service to New Yorkers. Today, the two men at the center of these allegations quit their jobs as police officers. Had these charges been upheld in an upcoming departmental trial, I would have fired them immediately. 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.”

Martins and Hall pleaded not guilty to the charges in a 50-count indictment alleging they raped the woman on the night of Sept. 15 and forced her to perform oral sex in Calvert Vaux Park in Gravesend.

“It is incomprehensible that two veteran NYPD detectives would allegedly commit such an outrageous act,” said acting Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez in a statement. “They took an oath to protect and serve, but allegedly violated that oath by raping a young woman who was in their custody.”

Martins, an 11-year veteran, and Hall, who has been an officer for seven years, appeared before Brooklyn Supreme Court Judge Danny Chun for their arraignment on Oct. 30. The judge set bail at $250,000 for Martins and $150,000 for Hall.

By Anthony M. DeStefano

tony.destefano@newsday.comtonynewsday

Anthony M. DeStefano has been a reporter for Newsday since 1986 and covers law enforcement, criminal justice and legal affairs from its New York City offices.