A Hudson County
jury
has awarded $760,000 to an
Old Bridge woman
who accused two
NJ Transit cops
of raping her near Liberty State Park in Jersey City four years ago after she had asked for their help, officials said.
"It's very difficult to prove that an employer was responsible for the criminal acts of their employee but in this case it was clear, or should have been clear, that NJ Transit should have known about their unfitness," said attorney Rosemarie Arnold of the case decided yesterday in Hudson County Superior Court.
The jury found former NJ Transit Police Officers Lennard Ryner, 30, of West Haverstraw, New York, Gabriel Mantilla, 40, of Jersey City, and NJ Transit equally responsible for what happened to the woman identified in the suit by initials, meaning each party is responsible for a third of the award.
Ryner and Mantilla were convicted of official misconduct in connection with the July 29, 2006, incident. They were sentenced to three years and served prison terms from their June 29, 2007, sentencing until their release on March 27, 2008.
NJ Transit fired them, Arnold said.
The victim, who was 38 at the time, was employed at a financial firm in Manhattan. After work on July 28, 2006 she had drinks and took the PATH to Exchange Place, arriving at 11:30 p.m. She told the officers "she was intoxicated and afraid and needed assistance to find her motor vehicle," which was parked at Liberty State Park, the suit says.
The cops told her to take the light rail to the park and said they would meet her there, the suit says. Once at the park the victim said she wanted to sleep in her car before driving to her Old Bridge home, but the officers told her she couldn't sleep there, the 13-count suit says.
Instead, they assured her they would not charge her with drunk driving and told her to drive her car and follow their vehicle, the suit says, adding that they led her into a weeded area beneath an overpass.
Once at the location, "they said 'If you don't take care of us, we are going to arrest you for drunk driving,'" Arnold said, adding that the men used rubber gloves as condoms.
After leaving, the hysterical victim told a NJ Turnpike toll collector she had been raped.
Mantilla's DNA was recovered from the victim during an examination at the Jersey City Medical Center. Sex crime charges were never filed against the officers, who were instead charged with official misconduct.
Mantilla, a former Hudson County sheriff's officer, was an NJT cop for more than six years at the time of the incident; Ryner had been an NJT cop for more than two years.
During the trial Arnold pointed out problems in the records the officers she said should have made it clear they should not have been cops.
"It was great to see the jury in this case rally and hold NJ Transit responsible," Arnold said. "It really could have been avoided if NJ Transit followed their own procedures and didn't run their department with such a laissez-faire attitude."
NJ Transit suspended both officers without pay after their arrest and said in a statement at the time: "These are despicable actions that have been alleged that tarnish the badge of every officer who takes an oath to protect and serve our customers and the citizens of New Jersey."
NJ Transit could not be reached for comment earlier today.