Posted on 08/28/2003 8:51:52 AM PDT by Colofornian
A city police officer who has patrolled some of Albany's toughest neighborhoods was brought before a city judge late Tuesday and formally charged with raping a topless dancer at his own bachelor party.
Dressed in jeans, white sneakers and a button-down shirt, 29-year-old James Wood, a former sheriff's deputy who joined the city force in January, showed no emotion as he stood without handcuffs in front of Judge John C. Egan Jr., who set bail at $25,000 after telling the officer he was charged with a single count of first-degree rape.
A swarm of high-ranking police commanders flanked the courtroom for the 9 p.m. arraignment. It came at the conclusion of an intensive two-day internal affairs investigation that began before dawn Sunday when the 18-year-old woman called police in nearby Watervliet, where she lives, and claimed she had just been pinned to the floor and raped in the middle of a boisterous bachelor party in downtown Albany.
Watervliet police took a statement from the woman before having her transported to Albany Medical Center Hospital in an ambulance. They referred the case to Albany police.
In an interview at her residence Tuesday evening, the young woman claimed the alleged rape took place in the middle of a crowded dance floor at Doc McCutchen's bar, where deafening music and dim lighting obscured her pleas for help.
"I was screaming at him as loud as I could to get off and no one could hear me," she said. "He could hear me screaming but he didn't care. ... His best man grabbed my arms and had pinned me down so I couldn't move. It lasted four or five minutes but it was dark (be)cause there was only a strobe light and the music was so loud. I've never heard music that loud. I think some of the guys sitting around in the chairs in a circle didn't even know what was happening."
The woman claims the assault took place near the end of a nearly hourlong show in which she and her friends, who had been hired through a local entertainment service -- Venus Escorts -- danced mostly unclothed for a group of less than 20 men.
For the finale, the victim claims all of Wood's clothes were removed except for his boxer shorts and she slathered him with whipped cream as he lay on his back. It was then she claims the "best man" grabbed her arms and pinned her down from behind on her own folded legs as the groom-to-be assaulted her.
"My sister tried ripping the groom off me, and one of them told her they were going to kick her ass," the woman said, explaining her sister had accompanied the dancers for the event.
Moments later, a 31-year-old man identified by police officials as a friend of Wood and also an investigator for the state Commission of Correction intervened and broke up the alleged assault. The investigator was interviewed by detectives late Tuesday afternoon, about three hours before Wood was brought to police headquarters and charged with felony rape.
The alleged victim said she recognized the investigator who intervened because he had arranged the party and ordered the dancers about a week before the event.
The dancers on Tuesday said they arrived at Doc McCutchen's bar on Broadway in Albany about 45 minutes before midnight Saturday and were told by the owner, Jeffrey McCutchen, to get ready for their show in a back room. The bar was bustling but not mobbed because it was reserved for the bachelor party that night and closed to the public, according to witnesses.
A young man who accompanied the dancers to make sure they were not harmed -- which is common for topless dancers who perform at bachelor parties -- was allegedly not allowed into the bar because workers told the women that they would be providing the security, according to the alleged victim.
As they changed for the show, the women claim a bartender brought them a tray of mixed drinks and shots, allegedly urging them to drink them before the show started.
Bar owner Jeffrey J. McCutchen did not return telephone calls seeking comment. He told television reporters on Tuesday he was at the bar during the bachelor party but did not witness a sexual assault. State Liquor Authority officials did not return telephone calls seeking comment.
Early Tuesday, Police Chief Robert Wolfgang held a brief news conference outside police headquarters -- across Henry Johnson Boulevard from North Station, where Wood has been a patrolman -- and announced the officer had just been suspended without pay while the investigation is ongoing.
Wood, a resident of Colonie, learned he was suspended late Tuesday morning after being summoned to police headquarters. He arrived accompanied by his fiance and police union officials, who said Wood can be suspended for up to 30 days without pay. After that, his pay will resume until the case is resolved.
Jim Teller, an Albany K9 officer and president of the Albany Police Officers Union, accompanied Wood when he was suspended and also stood in the courtroom during his arraignment nearly 10 hours later. He declined comment on the woman's allegations.
"The investigation is still pending and they are in the middle of it," Teller said. "Until we get all the facts and I'm privy to all the information, I don't think it would be appropriate to comment."
But the alleged victim said she has been interviewed by detectives three times since Sunday and that she intends to follow through with her allegations.
"I want this guy locked up," she said. "This guy had no right to do that."
Now if the Kobotic Kobheads were doing their job, they would jump on this story in exactly the same manner as they defended Kobe by saying this woman "deserved this." I expect their posts to say things like, "Well, what does she expect going into a bar without any clothes on & putting whipped cream on him?"
Obviously, they can't defend this cop with the same "he-said, she-said" argument since this was done in a public setting, but certainly the MANY FREEPERS who posted comments about What was a hotel employee doing in Kobe's hotel room late at night? need to be consistent here.
Sounds like a very reasonable question. What would you expect?
An internal affairs type sets up this kind of party? More heads should be roilling. It is sad when the police want a double standard for themselves.
Or in fear for her life.
-archy-/-
It was obviously a rape. She was paid to dance and mess around, not to have sex. And she has a witness:
Moments later, a 31-year-old man identified by police officials as a friend of Wood and also an investigator for the state Commission of Correction intervened and broke up the alleged assault. The investigator was interviewed by detectives late Tuesday afternoon, about three hours before Wood was brought to police headquarters and charged with felony rape.
The alleged victim said she recognized the investigator who intervened because he had arranged the party and ordered the dancers about a week before the event.
Why would this investigator have pulled his buddy off her if it wasn't a rape?
If someone has sex with a woman while she is struggling against them, screaming, that's clearly a rape. It's a violation of her human rights (even dirty dancers are human beings, and even they have rights). Nobody should be raped.
Even if she was a whore, and he paid her for sex, if she was struggling against him he should have stopped (and gotten a refund). Nobody should be forced to have sex against their will. Because that's rape.
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