NYPD ‘tried to bully teenage girl into dropping rape claims against officers while she was in hospital’

The NYPD has launched an investigation into claims a group of policemen tried to intimidate an 18-year-old woman to stop her bringing charges against two detectives who allegedly raped her.

The woman claims nine policemen visited her and her mother at Maimonides Medical Centre in Brooklyn, New York, where she was being treated for the rape, and tried “to discourage them from coming forward” with the story, according to her attorney.

Eddie Martins, 37, and Richard Hall, 32, are accused of raping the 18-year-old in the back seat of their police van while she was handcuffed after being arrested for possessing drugs on September 15. She has also accused them of forcing her to perform oral sex.

Hall and Martins admitted to having sex with the 18-year-old while on duty but dispute her claim that it was non-consensual, according to police sources.

A lawyer for one of the accused policemen also said the women’s claims of bullying were untrue.

Mark Bederow, a lawyer for detective Eddie Martins said: “She was interviewed by [the Internal Affairs Bureau] on the evening of September 16.

“That neither she nor her mother informed IAB that other officers were allegedly obstructing justice severely discredits this allegation.”

However, the young woman’s attorney, Michael David, said: “We were just recently in an official meeting concerning the mom’s recollection of events that night. That’s when it came out.

“That’s when I heard it. And when I heard it come out of the mom’s mouth, I wasn’t going to let it go.”

Earlier, the young woman said in a statement: “I’m completely brutalised by the rape. Now every time I see any police, I’m in a panic.”

She says she was driving in the Coney Island area of New York with two friends, when they were pulled over by police on suspicion of possessing illegal substances.