Two NYPD detectives charged with raping teenage drug suspect in the back of their van

Two New York Police Department detectives were charged with raping a teenage girl they arrested in a drugs case last month. Eddie Martins and Richard Hall also face bribery charges for telling the 18-year-old rape victim she would be let free if she did what they wanted, sources told the NYDaily News.

Both the accused were suspended following the indictment and were stripped of their guns and shields. They were also demoted to officers from detectives after the teenage victim made the shocking revelation, police sources told the paper on Friday (27 October).

Martins and Hall arrested the girl on 15 September over possession of marijuana and an anti-anxiety drug in Bath Beach. They then allegedly had sex with her without her consent inside the police van parked in a Chipotle parking lot in Coney Island.

The victim said in her complaint that on the day of the crime she was with two friends in a Bath Beach park. The two officers found marijuana and the anxiety drug in a bag next to her and handcuffed her.

They then drove her to the parking lot, where one of the officers raped her, she alleged and added that the two officers also forced her to perform a sex act. However, the accused claimed the sex was consensual.

The accused are expected to surrender early next week for arraignment in Brooklyn Supreme Court, sources told the paper. They added that the surrender was likely part of an agreement reached between the accused officers and prosecutors because they are not considered flight risks.

"We look forward to defending any charges in a court of law rather than in the court of public opinion," Martins' lawyer, Mark Bederow, said on Friday.

Police Commissioner James O'Neill said the two officers will "pay the price" if the allegations prove true.

The cops, who worked as narcotics officers in south Brooklyn, face a mandatory minimum of three years in jail and a maximum of 25 years in jail if convicted.