NYPD cops arrested for off duty sex assault on drunk woman unable to stand at Bronx restaurant Zona De Cuba
Two NYPD officers have been arrested and charged for taking home an extremely intoxicated woman from a Bronx bar and sexually assaulting her, officials said Tuesday.
Officers Julio Alcantara-Santiago, 40, and Christian Garcia, 32, were drinking off duty at Cuban restaurant Zona De Cuba on Grand Concourse near E. 150th St. on July 9, 2023 when they allegedly spotted a woman so drunk that she was unable to stand up on her own, according to a criminal complaint.
Video shows the officers holding the woman up by her arms as she repeatedly fell into the men as they led her out of the bar, prosecutors said.
The officers drove the woman to a female acquaintance’s nearby apartment building and carried her inside with her eyes shut and mouth open, video viewed by police allegedly shows.
When the victim came to, she was in an unfamiliar bedroom as Alcantara-Santiago and Garcia sexually assaulted her, the complaint stated.
Alcantara-Santiago egged on Garcia, encouraging him to rape her while she lay motionless on the bed, according to prosecutors.
“Nah, bro, she’s too out of it,” Garcia allegedly said.
The complaint describes the duo sexually abusing the woman as she was unable to respond or move her body.
“Let’s go, bro, she’s waking up,” Garcia then said, according to the complaint.
The woman’s next memory was waking up around 7:30 a.m., just before she sought help at a local hospital, where she had a sexual assault kit done.
In February, the officers agreed to a cheek swab, which matched DNA found on the victim’s body collected at the hospital after the attack.
After an investigation by the NYPD’s Internal Affairs Bureau, Alcantara-Santiago and Garcia were arrested and charged with criminal sexual act, sexual abuse, sexual misconduct, forcible touching and sex abuse, officials said.
Following an arraignment in Bronx Criminal Court Tuesday, Alcantara-Santiago was held on a $50,000 cash bail or $75,000 bond. Garcia was held on a $30,000 cash bail or $70,000 bond.
Alcantara-Santiago was appointed to the NYPD in 2013 and Garcia in 2016, records show. Both men were reassigned on April 2, with Alcantara-Santiago being moved to the Manhattan Court Section and Garcia to the Brooklyn Court Section.
Both officers were suspended without pay following their arrests, according to an NYPD spokesperson.
One of Zona De Cuba’s owners, Fernando Mateo, unsuccessfully ran for mayor in 2021 and is a regular figure in the city’s public life. He did not immediately answer a request for comment Tuesday night.
