Rico's rants: Little surprise, indeed

28 May 2011

Little surprise, indeed

John Leland has an article in The New York Times about the recent NYPD acquittal:

It was a trial that bared some anxieties that run just below the city’s surface: the weakness of a drunken memory and the vulnerability of ordinary residents to abuse from the powerful, especially in a police uniform. For nearly two months, New Yorkers followed a courtroom drama that held all the fascination of a television crime series, with intimate sexual detail and a haunting void at its center into which they could project their own fears or anger.
Those emotions poured forth with surprising gusto when a variety of New Yorkers, from civil servants to night-life denizens, were asked about the acquittal of two police officers accused in the rape of a woman they had been called to help get home to her East Village apartment after she had been spent a night out celebrating a job promotion.
Some people talked eagerly about a topic they seemed to have mulled for weeks; others chose every word, carefully moderating emotions that included outrage, cynicism, and resignation at what some called business as usual.
“It’s scary, because I feel there are less and less people you can trust,” said Erin Walsh, 31, an English teacher who lives in Astoria, Queens. “It’s hard to wrap my brain around the situation. People in positions of power should do the right thing.”
In interviews around the city, reactions to the verdict revealed the simple terror elicited by the case, that the very people sworn to protect you can take advantage of you. Amid the anger, many expressed little surprise that in a trial without physical evidence, the jury believed the officers over the woman accusing them, who testified that she was too drunk to remember much of what happened.
“It’s disgusting,” said Annie White, a retired home health care aide, who said she had to shut off her television after watching the verdict. “New York City cops can get away with anything,” Ms. White said, sitting in front of her home on 117th Street in Harlem. “This is the only place I know where there are certain rules for police officers and certain rules for civilians. Acquitting those two today is totally out of line. They should put those cops in jail where they belong. Right is right, wrong is wrong. To take advantage of a drunk woman? If you’re a woman in this city you don’t have a chance; you can’t even call the police. If they were civilians, they would be in jail.”
The trial of the two officers, Kenneth Moreno and Franklin Mata, featured spirited courtroom confrontations and a steady drip of intimate revelations, including the woman’s familiarity with various sexual positions and the song that Mr. Moreno testified that he sang to her when he cuddled her in her bed (Bon Jovi’s Livin’ on a Prayer).
The officers were found guilty of official misconduct and fired from the force; an inadequate punishment, several people said, for officers who took advantage of a woman at her most vulnerable.
“It isn’t the first time police officers get away with doing something they shouldn’t be doing, and it’s getting to be normal and that’s a problem,” said Sharlene Lynch, 23, who works in retail. “I’m glad it wasn’t me. I’m sad for her. Police are supposed to serve and protect, but they get away with everything.”
Responses did not seem to divide along lines of gender, age, or ethnicity or even, in some instances, connection to police officers. “It’s ridiculous,” said Lavaba Wilson, 45, whose brother is a police officer. “First of all, she was drunk and unable to consent. In the state of New York, that’s rape. But they’re officers, and it’s the natural inclination to side with law enforcement.”
For Ursula Deljanin, 36, a legal assistant who said she had been following the trial closely in two newspapers, the case sounded a warning about the dangers of being a woman in New York. Ms. Deljanin said she went out one or two nights a week and liked to drink, though not to excess. She said she saw many women who drank themselves into very dangerous situations. “People are just thinking this is Disneyland,” she said. “It’s still New York. You have to be aware.” Ms. Deljanin said the case had made her more cautious about her own behavior, and affirmed her suspicions about the police. “Human beings are human beings, and if they see a moment of weakness, they take advantage of it,” she said. “If I was in the same situation with a girlfriend and I saw she was in that condition, I would’ve called an ambulance before I called the cops.” She emphasized that she was not blaming the woman, but that she herself always used a “buddy system” when she went out. Many women at clubs, she said, seemed to believe that the city’s ugly side had disappeared. “The danger just has a prettier face these days,” she said. “It’s not the guy in the overcoat hanging in the corner. It could be just a regular-looking guy.”
Sarah Lewitinn, 31, also said the case made her more wary of the police, whom she had previously considered “the last person I’d expect this from.” Ms. Lewitinn, who works as a disc jockey around town under the name Ultragrrrl, said she had watched intoxicated women get into police cars, trusting that the officers would get them home safely. “I think I’ve even had a cop take me home,” she said. “When I’m walking by myself at 4 a.m. in heels, it’s hard to get a cab among the hooligans. Once or twice I’ve gone to a cop, and said, ‘I hate to be a bother, but could you take me home?’ Ms. Lewitinn said she had followed the trial “like an episode of Law & Order. ” The rape accusations, she said, “definitely made me rethink getting into anyone’s car that I don’t know.”
Many found themselves torn; convinced that the officers were guilty of rape, but that the accuser’s haziness made it hard for the jury to convict.
“I guess the jury used whatever facts they had to make that decision,” said Jon Gustafson, 67, a dog walker who lives in Yonkers. “My gut reaction? Where there’s smoke, there’s fire. It’s hard to believe a woman would manufacture a story like this. I’m sure their lives will be different after this and her life will be different.”