WORCESTER — The investigation that led to rape and assault charges
against Jason D. Briddon began in earnest July 2, 2007, when the alleged victim
related to Worcester Police Lt. William P. O'Connor that she had been sexually
assaulted by a man she believed was a Worcester police officer, a Worcester
Superior Court jury was told yesterday.
The now 32-year-old woman said she was violently raped on or about May 1
of that year in a building in the William Street area by a man who offered her
a ride home from Ralph's Chadwick Square Diner on Grove Street. She did not
know the identity of her assailant but said she had been with him, a woman
named Bonnie and three other men earlier in the night at two Water Street bars.
One of the men had identified himself and his male companions as police
officers, she said. She also said she believed she had been surreptitiously
drugged prior to the rape.
Mr. Briddon, 39, a former part-time police officer in Rutland, was
ultimately charged with rape and assault and battery with a dangerous weapon
and is now on trial for a second time in the case. His first trial ended in a
mistrial in 2009 when a jury was unable to render a unanimous verdict.
In his opening statement Tuesday, Mr. Briddon's lawyer, David R.
Yannetti, said his client had been falsely accused.
Lt. O'Connor, a 28-year police veteran who has been involved in more
than 3,000 sexual assault investigations, by his own count, was called to the
stand yesterday by Assistant District Attorney Cheryl R. Riddle as a
prosecution witness against Mr. Briddon.
He said his first meeting with the alleged victim lasted for several
hours and that she provided him with physical descriptions of her assailant and
the people she had been with in the hours preceding the reported sexual
assault.
The woman also described her attacker's vehicle and the building where
the rape allegedly occurred, according to Lt. O'Connor.
The following day, he showed the woman photographs of all 475 Worcester
police officers, but she was unable to identify anyone, he said.
Lt. O'Connor testified that he then made the rounds of the bars where
the woman said she had been before being raped, Jose Murphy's and the
Blackstone Tap on Water Street and Ralph's. At Ralph's, he said, he learned the
name of the bartender who was on duty the morning of the alleged rape.
The bartender identified her friend, Bonnie Smith, as the woman who was
with the alleged victim on the morning in question, Lt. O'Connor testified.
He said he then questioned Ms. Smith and learned the identities of the
men in the group, which included Mr. Briddon; Brendan McShea, another part-time
Rutland police officer; and Thomas Downey, a full-time Rutland officer.
Mr. McShea and Mr. Downey were interviewed and said it was Mr. Briddon
who gave the alleged victim a ride home from Ralph's, according to Lt.
O'Connor.
The lieutenant's July 31, 2007, interview with Mr. Briddon was audio-
and video-recorded and was played for the jury.
In it, Mr. Briddon said he drove the woman directly home from Ralph's
and denied raping her. He described the woman as a “freak” and a “head case”
under questioning by Lt. O'Connor.
In her opening statement in the case, Ms. Riddle told the jury the
alleged victim identified Mr. Briddon as the man who raped her when she was
shown his picture in a photo array.
In 2010, Mr. Briddon was sentenced to 10 to 12 years in state prison
after being convicted of unrelated charges of beating and raping a prostitute
in Worcester in 2008.
Mr. Briddon's trial is scheduled to resume Monday morning.