No One Deserves What These Police Did To Her

Content Warning: The following story contains graphic details about rape and sexual assault

An 18-year-old Black girl was arrested for marijuana possession and taken into custody by NYPD detectives Richard Hall and Edward Martins, who then raped her in a van.

They say they had “consensual sex” with her. The problem is… that’s IMPOSSIBLE.

The words “custody” and “consent” don’t go together here, because when someone is under arrest, the police have all the power. There’s nothing consensual about it.

Still, as usual, the cops got off! More than 40 charges against them were dropped, including rape and kidnapping. HOW?

This situation has been a complete mess! At one point, Assistant District Attorney Nicole Manini was found to be romantically involved with one of the charged officers.

Now, New York has decided to ban sex - i.e. rape - between officers and those in their custody. That wasn’t already illegal?

 This sort of abuse happens all the time, particularly to Black women and girls. Cops, like former police officer Daniel Holtzclaw, target women who are criminalized because of their race.

Fortunately, he didn’t get away with it. But so many others do.

Police in the U.S. were accused of rape OVER 400 times between 2005 and 2013, according to Bowling Green University research. And that’s just the number of people who decided to file a report.

Police need to be policed and held accountable, too.