Four NYPD officers have been placed on modified duty this week, stripped of their guns and badges, after allegations that they drank alcohol at a Washington Heights restaurant while on the job. The NYPD's Internal Affairs bureau is also trying to sort out whether one of the detectives may have sexually assaulted a waitress at the restaurant.
The New York Times reports that surveillance footage shows the four officers sitting down on February 16th at the Parilla Steakhouse at Broadway at 164th Street. During a meal that exceeded the one hour they're allotted for break, two detectives can be seen leaving the booth, then returning to join the others. Footage shows the group sharing wine.
Later that day a waitress from Parilla checked into St. Luke's Roosevelt Hospital on the advice of her lawyer. The waitress, in her early 20s, says she fell asleep on the job and woke up with one of the owners inappropriately touching her. She also says she remembers one of the detectives present in the room before she fell asleep and that hundreds of dollars may have passed hands between the owner and the police officer.
The restaurants manager told CBS he had no comment on the incident. And a lawyer for the detectives told The Times, "It is our understanding that at no time did the waitress make any allegation of inappropriate sexual conduct against any of the detectives."