The married NYPD detective under investigation for allegedly boozing on duty and sexually assaulting an upper Manhattan waitress denied sleeping with the server — but admitted “he did take her panties,” a law-enforcement source said.
Detective Douglas Strong told his union lawyer yesterday he went to La Parilla’s back room alone with the drunken waitress on Feb. 16 after she showed him and three other 33rd Precinct cops racy pictures of herself, the source said.
“She falls asleep and he covers her up with a blanket. He did not have sex with her. He did not have intercourse with her. Apparently, he did take her panties,” he told the lawyer from the Detectives’ Endowment Association, according to the source.
“When she got into bed, she started to take some of her clothes off.”
The woman has told investigators she woke to find one of La Parilla’s owners sexually assaulting her with his hand.
Strong, who was on-duty during the four-hour meal, claimed he had “three sodas and one glass of wine.”
“He was fit for duty,” the source said.
The woman later called him and asked about her panties.
“He just goes right to her and hands them off in a plastic bag,” the source said.
The NYPD’s Internal Affairs Bureau and Manhattan DA’s Office are investigating the incident. Strong and the others have been stripped of their guns and badges.
DEA President Michael Palladino said, “I know some administrative issues exist. However, his conduct does not rise to the level of a crime, especially rape.”
City Councilman Ydanis Rodriguez called for La Parilla to be shuttered, citing hundreds of noise complaints and allegations that the back room there was illegally added without city approval.
Source: NY Post
