Two NYPD police officers were arrested on Tuesday for allegedly sexually assaulting an intoxicated woman in the Bronx. The incident allegedly occurred after the officers met her at a local bar. Both of the officers have faced disciplinary action but now they are also facing prison sentences.
The officers are accused of taking advantage of the woman while she was intoxicated.
The officers, 40-year-old Julio Alcantara-Santiago and 32-year-old Christian Garcia, were slapped with a litany of sex abuse charges for the July 9 assault of the unidentified woman following a night out at a Grand Concourse bar.
The victim — who was unable to stand on her own and subsequently passed out — has no memory of leaving the bar, a Cuban spot called Zona De Cuba.
Instead, her next memory was waking up to the two cops allegedly sexually assaulting her in a bed in a strange apartment she didn’t recognize, according to the criminal complaint.
Her slight stirring, however, apparently spooked her accused abusers.
“Let’s go, bro, she’s waking up,” Garcia allegedly told the other cop, the victim said.
Later that morning, the woman woke up around 7:30 a.m. and went to a local Bronx hospital to get a rape kit.
Doctors swabbed dried spit on the woman and DNA tests later confirmed that it matched both NYPD officers, according to the complaint.
During the encounter, Alcantara-Garcia allegedly “egged on” Garcia, urging him to sexually assault her while she was lying still on the bed. “Stick it in, bro, she’s clean, he allegedly said.
“Nah, bro, she’s too out of it,” Garcia allegedly responded.
Both of the officers pleaded not guilty on Wednesday. They have posted bail. Garcia’s attorney defended his client, saying that “He has never been in trouble in his life” and that “He’s an eight-year member of the NYPD and he completely denies these charges.”
The judge set bail for Alcantara-Santiago at $50,000 or a partially secured bond of $75,000. For Garcia, bail was set at $30,000 cash or a $70,000 partially secured bond. They will return to court on Friday morning. The two officers were previously partners.
Court documents indicate that video footage shows the two officers walking on each side of the intoxicated woman while holding her up by her arms while leaving the restaurant at 12:37 a.m. The officers then allegedly took her to an apartment building according to more video footage. The woman was still unable to stand on her own and her eyes were closed.
For one of the officers, this was not the first time being accused of sexually inappropriate behavior.
Alcantara-Santiago was previously arrested for allegedly groping a woman at the Hard Rock Cafe in Yankee Stadium in September 2022, but Bronx prosecutors dismissed the case the same month after viewing surveillance footage of the incident.
The cop called the accusation “humiliating” after he was cleared.
“I have been a cop 10 years and I only uphold the law — I don’t break the law,” he said in a statement at the time.
Both of the officers have been suspended without pay.
