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March 15–21, 2019 Including The Brooklyn Paper
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BY JULIANNE MCSHANE
The district attorney dropped
rape and kidnapping charges
against a pair of former cops
who admitted to having sex
with an 18-year-old Coney Island
woman in their custody
in 2017, and will instead pursue
trying the defendants
on lesser
charges of offi cial
misconduct and
taking bribes.
Prosecutors on
March 6 dismissed
the charges against
one-time Police Department
detectives
Richard Hall and Eddie
Martins due to “unforeseen
and serious credibility
issues” with the woman’s testimony,
according to the district
attorney’s spokesman
Oren Yaniv, who said the offi
ce is still committed to seeking
justice in the case.
“We are fully committed
to holding these defendants
accountable by vigorously
pursuing the charges in this
case that can be proven with
independent and reliable evidence,”
Yaniv said.
The woman allegedly provided
prosecutors with a “series
of false, misleading, and
inconsistent statements about
the facts of the case,” according
to a January letter Chief
Assistant District Attorney
Nancy Hoppock wrote to the
Supreme Court judge presiding
over the case, whom Hoppock
also requested appoint a
special prosecutor to the case
due to concerns that dropping
the charges would undermine
both the woman’s and
the public’s trust in
the justice system.
“If we decide
to drop certain
counts against the
defendants, the decision
will surely
be perceived by the
woman, and we now
fear by the public, as
evidence that we are, in
fact, unfairly disfavoring the
woman and favoring the defendants,”
Hoppock wrote. “In
the end, we want to see justice
done on the woman’s behalf,
and we want to maintain community
trust in the criminaljustice
system.”
But another Supreme
Court judge, Justice Matthew
D’Emic — who was assigned
to respond to Hoppock’s letter
— ultimately rejected the
prosecutors’ request, claiming
that the district attorney’s
offi ce had “fulfi lled its ethical
obligations” by being forthcoming
about the woman’s alleged
lies, and that concerns
THREATENED: Police cuffed a pre-teen girl on March 7, after she allegedly took to social media and threatened
to shoot up Bay Academy middle school in Sheepshead Bay. Photo by Steve Solomonson
BY AIDAN GRAHAM
A Sheepshead Bay pol blasted
city education offi cials for
failing to immediately notify
parents after someone threatened
to open fi re inside an
Emmons Avenue school last
week.
Cops on March 7 cuffed an
11-year-old girl for threatening
to shoot up the hallways
of Bay Academy in an Instagram
post shared the day before,
police said.
“Can’t wait for tomorrow
shooting. Bay Academy kids
watch out,” read the March
6 post shared from handle
@joshk817, whose account
has since been removed from
the social platform.
Department of Education
offi cials chose not to close the
middle school between E. 14th
and 15th streets on the day
of the alleged threat after reporting
it to authorities, who
deemed it unfounded following
an investigation, according
to an agency rep.
“Safety always comes fi rst,
and this unfounded threat
was immediately reported
to the NYPD and thoroughly
investigated,” said Miranda
Continued on page 12
Vol. 74 No. 11 BROOKLYNPAPER.COM
Continued on page 12
POL: DELAY
NOT OKAY
DA drops rape
counts against
Coney ex-cops
Councilman blasts offi cials for too slowly
notifying Bay parents of shooting threat
/BROOKLYNPAPER.COM