The 36-year-old waitress claiming that a veteran NYPD detective may have taken advantage her in the back of a Washington Heights restaurant says he returned her underwear to her in a plastic bag the next day. “The last thing I remember is him patting the bed and telling me to sit down next to him,” the waitress, whose name is being withheld, told the Daily News. “I remember trying to slide away from him, bob and weave. He was like, ‘Come here, everything’s all right. I’m not gonna hurt you.’” [Ed. note: This has been revised to reflect changes in the Daily News' story.]
According to the paper, the woman has been interviewed by the Internal Affairs Bureau "at least five times," and her account of the evening remained the same when she spoke to St. Luke's Hospital employees the next day. A rape kit was administered, but the results aren't yet available.
The waitress claims that one of Parrilla's owners gave her $200 to drink with the group, and that the detective who took her panties was celebrating his 49th birthday. “He told me this was his really good friend. He was trying to show him a good time."
She also says the four detectives "were drinking excessive amounts of wine. Before I even came to the table they must have polished off two bottles." This contradicts the New York Post's police sources, who said all the men were "fit for duty," as if they hadn't been drinking much at all. The waitress admits to drinking three glasses of wine "and some shots."
In the 45 minutes that the detective was absent from the table, the waitress says he led her into a back room where there is a bed, although she doesn't remember anything beyond his assurances that he wouldn't hurt her. She awoke at around 3 a.m. to the owner of the restaurant "pawing" at her, "screamed, grabbed her clothes and fled."
She called the detective, who has been on the force for nearly 20 years, the next morning. “The first thing he told me is, ‘I have something of yours I need to return to you,’ ” she said, referring to her underwear. “I was confused how he had my underwear. (He) told me we took our clothes off.” The detective told her they didn't have sex because she was incapacitated, and told IAB the same.
The detective later drove to the woman's apartment and gave the waitress her underwear in a plastic bag. His attorney said that judgement should be withheld "until all of the accurate facts are brought to light." All four detectives have been stripped of their guns and badges and placed on desk duty. The owner who allegedly groped the waitress has not yet been located, and a manager called the waitress "crazy…She was getting fired and she's just embarrassing herself."
“I should have known better than to sit down and put myself in that situation,” the waitress said. “But I had no idea what was going to transpire.”
