By Shayna Jacobs
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
MANHATTAN SUPREME COURT — An East Village police officer on trial for rape testified Friday that the alleged victim was "flirty" and wide-awake when they arrived at her home.
Police officer Franklin Mata, 29, took the witness stand in his own defense in the Manhattan Supreme Court trial.
He said the alleged victim, a 27-year-old fashion industry worker, asked him and his partner, Kenneth Moreno, to return to her apartment throughout the early morning hours of Dec. 7, 2008, to check on her. She even gave them her keys, he testified.
They had been called to help her by a cab driver concerned because she was very drunk.
Mata is accused of standing guard at the woman's East 13th Street apartment while Moreno, 43, allegedly raped her.
The woman claimed she was passing in and out of consciousness at the time, but lawyers for the officers say she was conscious and chatty during their four visits that morning.
They have not admitted any sexual encounter between Moreno and the woman, and no biological evidence exists to prove it.
"Their conversation seemed to be very friendly. A little flirty at times," Mata said of his partner's interaction with the woman even as she vomited in her bathroom.
"Their conversations took place in the bathroom," he added, explaining that she was talking with Moreno about his own past drinking problems and a custody battle for his daughter.
He also admitted that he "dozed off" on the victim's couch during the last visit to the woman's apartment, while the officers were on a meal break and stopping over one last time.
"Next thing, [Moreno] gave me a tap on shoulder to nudge me up and say, 'Come on, we're leaving and we left the apartment," he added
The officers are charged with rape, burglary for allegedly entering her apartment several times, and official misconduct because they allegedly did not call an ambulance for the woman, who was so intoxicated she could not get out of a cab on her own.
She could have had as many as 15 drinks, including vodka and other hard liquor, according to previous testimony.
"She told us no — she didn't want an ambulance, that she just needed to throw up and she'd be OK," Mata told jurors.
The woman has testified that she blacked out for significant portions of the night, but clearly recalls being raped.
A video recording played repeatedly at the trial shows the officers entering the apartment four times throughout the night.
During cross-examination Friday, Mata was grilled by Assistant District Attorney Coleen Balbert about his knowledge of her drunkenness, again forcing to him to explain why they did not seek medical help for her and instead chose to visit her apartment four times.
Mata denied knowing that she had vomited in the taxi's backseat and said he did not ask the cab driver about her condition.
"Are you saying you never observed [the victim] not able to get up?" Balbert said.
Mata said he did not and that she was lucid and talking to him as he walked her to the front door of her building.
"So she was fine, according to you, correct?"
"She was drunk," he responded.
Cross-examination was set to continue on Friday afternoon.
