Cops accused of raping a young woman in East Village in New York.

By Patrick Hedlund

DNAinfo News Editor

EAST VILLAGE — The ongoing trial of two police officers charged with raping a woman inside her East Village apartment could have a chilling effect on the willingness of future victims to step forward, a rape survivor and advocate warned.

Jay Grayce, a rape victim who counsels other survivors on two local radio shows, said women are already reluctant to come forward — with just a third of all rape victims willing to report the crime.

The eventual verdict handed down by a jury in the case of two East Village police officers charged with raping a drunk 27-year-old woman after responding to a 911 call to help her could dramatically affect that, she said.

"It seems that they might get away with it. I hope not, and pray that they don't," said Grayce, 40. "It's going to send a message of — you're not protected, you're not going to be safe no matter who you turn to.

"A lot of young women don't report rape. This is going to add to that if it doesn't come out the way we hope it will," she continued. "It's going to be very detrimental. Women are not going to feel that they can turn to police officers and get the support they need."

Grayce, who has co-hosted the Rape Declaration Forum radio call-in show on WBAI for the past seven years, and recently founded her own East Village-based multimedia network to counsel survivors, said she has heard from a number of rape victims whose attackers were authority figures.
Rape Counselor Says East Village 'Rape Cop' Trial Raises Important Questions for New YorkersJay Grayce, who hosts radio call-in shows for victims of rape and sexual assault. (Marc Stewart)

"Believe it or not, I'm not surprised that police officers are involved. It's become something I hear over and over again," she said.

"We hear calls of survivors who have been raped by police officers and people of authority. They never had the strength this woman had. It was a lot easier for this woman to keep quiet. It was really, really courageous."

Grayce, a native New Yorker, said she was raped in San Francisco after moving there from the city as a 29-year-old. She sees many similarities between the "devastating" experiences both she and the alleged victim underwent.

Manhattan — and especially the seemingly safe East Village where the alleged victim lived at the time — is seen as a place where ambitious young women flock to experience big-city living while pursuing their dreams.

Grayce moved to San Francisco about a decade ago to pursue her own dreams, but was raped during a job interview less than a month after she arrived.

She explained that she was attacked by a restaurant manager as the man's wife and family, as well as Grayce's friend, were in another room of the restaurant.

But she said the feelings of trauma she felt after the rape sent her into a state of shock that only intensified during the criminal trial against her assailant.

Grayce said that DNA evidence linked her attacker in San Francisco to the crime and ultimately led to a conviction. There is no such DNA evidence in the East Village woman's case.

"It took about two years until I finally started picking up the pieces," she said, noting that reliving the experience in court was worse than the immediate aftermath of the attack.

"Part of me was like, I don't want to do this, I'm just starting to get my life together. It's very isolating," she added, saying that she feels sympathy for the woman in the alleged East Village attack.

"I hope she has a good support system, because she needs it."

Sensitive and personal details of the alleged East Village victim's attack — including her sexual history and graphic details about her anatomy — have been publicly dissected in recent weeks during the trial.

The alleged victim's appearance on the stand showed her emotional vulnerability early on during questioning that gave way to more poised resolve — something not easily achieved by victims who are thrust back into the traumatizing experience via the courtroom, Grayce said.

"Rape is about power. People get confused and think it's about sex," she said.

"The truth is, it's an act of violence and an act of someone taking over someone else's power. This woman had the strength and the insight to pick herself up, and [she] decided to take her power back and make these people accountable for their actions. That is a very courageous thing."

Regardless of the trial's outcome, Grayce added, the woman should take heart in her decision to stand up against her alleged perpetrators, which many women don't do in instances of rape.

"No matter what the outcome may be, she will know she did the best she could," she said. "Now it's up to the justice system to do their job."

Read more: http://www.dnainfo.com/20110503/lower-east-side-east-village/counselor-warns-rape-cops-trial-could-have-chilling-effect-on-victims#ixzz1LXJELmQh


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This is something that rings true to me. My friend's father was involved in the police in the area. He was a head guy, and I was moving (bit different from her, but still) so I was terrified to report it. I thought, 'no one will believe me. No one will care.' and so I let it go and he got away with it.

I still feel shame that I let him get away with it, but this woman brings hope. She's a courageous woman. She's going to undergo all sorts of things. People will tell her she's lying, she will likely get alienated. Things will not be good for her. But in the end, she did the right thing.

I hope it never happens again, but if it does to me, I only hope I would have the courage to report it this time.

Andy

As a Police Officer, it shames me that such animals whom wear the Badge, and prowl among us, exist. This tarrs ALL of my Brother Officers with the brush of Rapist. This will cause so many Victims and survivors to either not comeforward, or worse, make them fear the Police even more. My job is difficuls as it is. I really don't need animals like this making my job any more difficult. The remedy for this, is a strong, loud verdict of "GUILTY"!!!!!



Tony V.

As a Police Officer, it shames me that such animals whom wear the Badge, and prowl among us, exist. This tarrs ALL of my Brother Officers with the brush of Rapist. This will cause so many Victims and survivors to either not comeforward, or worse, make them fear the Police even more. My job is difficuls as it is. I really don't need animals like this making my job any more difficult. The remedy for this, is a strong, loud verdict of "GUILTY"!!!!!



Tony V.

Hopefully they will get seen as guilty, since one of the police officers said he did wear a condom while he did this. I don't recall just where I read that, but if you look up the story, you could find it. Hopefully the jury will get they are guilty and this will not affect how the other police officers get treated and called by others.

That probably made no sense. Whoops, but I'm too tired to figure out where it stopped making sense.

Andy!

[Hometown Hero]

 I understand the sentiment here, and if these two are guilty, then I don't see why a conviction would be any less likely just because they are police officers.  But you hear this kind of talk whenever an officer is on trial.  The thing is, police officers are just men like anyone else, and I don't think the general public is so naive as to think otherwise.

While there are definitely circumstances where a cop's word should hold more weight than say, an accusing criminal, this is not one.  I would rarely ever question an officers right to defend himself and the public when he feels threatened.  And naturally I will probably take his account of an incident over your average person pumping with adrenaline.  But a rape case has absolutely nothing to do with his work.  He is then just a man, the same as a priest is a man when accused of such things, or even the president of the United States. 

But what bugs me is all the b.s. talk about women fearing reporting a rape now, because of it.  It makes no sense at all.  Why any rational person would honestly be afraid to report a rape because some dickhead cop did something wrong, is just plain stupid.  New York police respond to hundreds if not thousands of rapes every year.  So for this rare case to cause someone to believe they are better off helping out their attacker by letting it go, so he can do it again to another girl is truly unbelievable.

My father is a retired 33 year veteran of L.A.P.D.'s elite S.I.S. task force.  And after spending the majority of his adult life dealing with sociopaths like Richard Ramirez (The NightStalker) on a daily basis, you might expect him to come away from it all with a chip on his shoulder and prejudiced in one way or another.  But in reality, I've never met a more non judgemental, open-minded and all around friendly guy in my life.  And most cops like him who have worked their way up to handling violent crimes, are great men as well.  You have to be to the job.  The rare occasions where you hear about this type of shit, generally involves rookie beat cops, that are not yet acclimated to the pressures and responsibilities of the job.  But a detective that handles violent sexual assaults are not there because they're some fuck up who got lucky.

Unfortunately, when you make the accusation of rape, it is not going to be fun or easy for you.  This is not the investigator being an insensitive asshole, it is just the way it has to be.  But as always, just like in the article above, the defense is portrayed as asking unnecessary personal questions, or divulging embarrassing details to the whole court room.  Well what the fuck do you expect them to do?  I don't think people realize what they are dealing with here.  Rape can get you LIFE IN PRISON.  It can get you more time than some homicides.  So to expect the defense to do anything less when a defendants life is on the line is just down laughable.  The sad truth is that as horrific and widespread as rape and domestic violence are,  they also have the highest number of false claims.  And as long as victims expect a rape conviction to rival murder one in sentencing, then they are going to have to be scrutinized with a fine tooth comb, and thank god for that.  Maybe if the punishment for proof of false claims was more severe, there would be less bogus ones, thus affording legitimate victims an easier time in the process.  I bet if proven false claims warranted just half of the jail time that their accusation would have expected the alleged to serve, it would be a much better process.  Because as it stands now, the penalty is a joke.  With the exception of a very few number of cases, false claims of rape are treated as a misdemeanor.

MSN Just announced, BOTH Cops were found "Not Guilty" it sickens and shames me, that these two animals will still be wearing the Badge. I find it reprehensible that these two were able to cast enough blame on the victim, to make there be enough Reasonable Doubt.


I am sick to my stomach over this......and, I am extremely pissed off......

If these had a shred of Human Decency, they will turn in their Badges....

But, if they had a shred of Human Decency, they wouldn't have Raped that poor girl in the first place.......

I am shamed they are Police Officers.....they should be...Convicts....

Tony V.       

[kira]

I have to say that i'm not at all shocked one bit. Disgusted - but not shocked