Crime

New York Cops Seem Confused On Whether Consensual Sex Can Happen Incident To An Arrest

They detained a teenager, allegedly had sex with her and let her go, and argue that's not 'rape.' No, not ISIS, but NYPD.

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Two New York police detectives resigned this week, amid lurid allegations that the arrested, raped, and then released an 18-year-old girl.

One imagines that if they hadn’t resigned they would have been fired anyway, because their defense is not really “Dear God we didn’t do this.” Their defense is that — if they had sex with her — it wasn’t “rape”, it was consensual sex. Between the two officers and the teen. Who allegedly took “turns.” In their police van.

I mean, I acknowledge that we live in a world where some people have a more evolved understanding of “consent” than others. But if you think that consensual sex can happen between a teenager in custody AND HER CAPTORS, IN THEIR VAN… then please just get the f**k out of this society. Go now. RID US OF YOUR STINK. If that’s what you think you need to be BANISHED.

Here’s the rule: Is your captive free to leave? IF “NO” THEN NO CONSENT. IF “ONLY IF SHE DOES ME” then NO CONSENT.

Attorneys for the police officers are trying to drive reasonable doubt between “no” and “only if she does me.” I’m serious. From the New York Times:

Calling the indictment “schizophrenic,” John Arlia, a lawyer for Detective Hall, noted at the arraignment that the charges included accusations of both “forcible” rape and of using sex to bribe a police officer — a “self-contradictory” position, suggesting that the prosecutors had two theories of the case and were not entirely confident about the young woman’s account.

Defense attorneys are going to defend but that argument right there is freaking insulting. It is NOT HARD to understand how the same act can be both things.

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NYPD: You’re under arrest. Get in the van.
CITIZEN: Oh no, what can I do? (charge: false imprisonment)
NYPD: We’ll let you go if you sex us.
CITIZEN: Oh no, what can I do? (charge: sex as bribe)
NYPD: [starts having sex]
CITIZEN: Oh no, what can I do? (charge: rape)

NOTHING IS CONTRADICTORY! If the cops had sex with a woman — sorry, an 18-year-old girl — who was in their custody that DESTROYS CONSENT. Whether that consent was destroyed in exchange for ESCAPING CAPTIVITY is IRRELEVANT, though still appropriate for additional charges.

In case I haven’t been clear: you’re not allowed to kidnap a person and have sex with them in your van. NOBODY CAN ASK FOR THAT.

Two New York Detectives Are Charged With Rape and Kidnapping [New York Times]

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Elie Mystal is the Executive Editor of Above the Law and the Legal Editor for More Perfect. He can be reached @ElieNYC on Twitter, or at elie@abovethelaw.com. He will resist.

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