Erica
Noonan, 31, is suing the city and Police Officer Carlos Becker, who's accused
of pulling her over because he found her attractive, using a cell phone to
video tape her rear end while she was handcuffed at a precinct, and pressuring
her into a date by promising to clear up her case. The lawsuit also names a
slew of other violations.
BY
DANIEL BEEKMAN
The
Bronx woman wooed by a hot-to-trot NYPD highway cop during and after her
drunk-driving arrest sued the officer and the city Thursday for $150 million.
Erica
Noonan, 31, says Police Officer Carlos Becker pulled her over on Fordham Road
on March 11, 2013, because he found her attractive, videotaped her rear end
with his cell phone while she was handcuffed at a police precinct and then
pressured her into a date by promising to clear up her case.
“I’m
going to talk to the district att on Monday,” Becker, 31, wrote in one of
hundreds of text messages he sent her, according to the Manhattan Federal Court
lawsuit. “Let’s just hang. I gotta get u in a better mood.”
During
the March 24 date, Becker ordered Noonan a drink that made her feel groggy, she
says.
She
woke up in the officer’s bed the next morning with a black eye and almost no
memory of the night, according to her
Noonan
says Becker used his power and status as a cop to lure her into the romantic
rendezvous.
“I
am deeply saddened and hurt by the acts of Officer Becker against me,” she
said. “It is my sincere hope that the NYPD takes measures to ensure that
another citizen is not violated, as I was, at the hands of a police officer.”
Noonan’s
lawsuit accuses the officer and the city of excessive force, negligent
training, assault, battery, false arrest, rape, libel, malicious prosecution,
abuse of authority, harassment and other violations.
“We
will review the lawsuit,” a city Law Department spokesman said.
Noonan’s
DWI charge was dropped last week, her lawyer Stephen Drummond said.
Becker
was cleared in December of misdemeanor official misconduct in connection with
Noonan’s arrest when a Bronx judge ruled that the cop’s videotaping of the
woman’s backside was reprehensible but not an unauthorized use of a police
function.
The
judge said the officer committed several other acts that could have been
characterized as misconduct but let Becker walk because Bronx prosecutors had
built their case around the filming incident.
The
lawyer who represented the cop in his criminal case declined to comment
Thursday. Becker himself couldn’t immediately be reached. The NYPD didn’t
respond to questions about Becker’s status.
“Police
officers are entrusted with the solemn duty to protect and serve the public,”
said Drummond. “Here Officer Becker abused that trust by placing his personal
desire about his oath, and for that he and the NYPD must be held accountable.”
