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Wednesday, June 15, 2011

Long Island cop Garrett Mannerz arrested for allegedly forcing woman to grope him at traffic stop

Nassau County cop Garrett Mannerz, 34, pulled a car over carrying three women in their early 20s in Levittown on Feb. 27, prosecutors said.

















A Long Island cop was arrested Wednesday for forcing a woman to grope him in exchange for letting her and her pals out of a traffic ticket, authorities said.

Nassau County cop Garrett Mannerz, 34, pulled a car over carrying three women in their early 20s in East Meadow on Feb. 27, prosecutors said.

After performing field sobriety tests on the driver, Mannerz allegedly ordered the victim - a passenger - out of the vehicle and over to his patrol car.

He commented on what she was wearing, asked for her phone number and said he would let her and her friends go if she "did something for him," said Nassau County District Attorney Kathleen Rice.

He then grabbed her wrist and "made her touch him sexually," Rice said. He also arranged to call her for a date and then let the women go without a summons.

A few hours later, Mannerz began making a series of sexually suggestive calls to the woman he had grabbed.

The woman ultimately recorded one of the calls and turned them over to police, and Mannerz - a five-year veteran - was arrested.

"This is a shocking case of a policeman abusing his power," Rice said. "This defendant was supposed to serve and protect the people, but chose instead to disgrace himself and the honest, hard-working members of the Nassau County Police Department."

Mannerz's lawyer, William Petrillo, called the charges wholly false.

"The absurdity of this false claim will become crystal clear as the case against this well-respected officer and family man unfolds," he said.

Mannerz was charged with receiving a bribe, official misconduct, coercion and sexual abuse. He was released without bail and is due back in court on June 29.

He faces up to seven years in prison if convicted.

Prosecutors are asking anyone else who may have had a similar run-in with Mannerz to come forward and call the public corruption bureau at 516-571-2100.

In a similar scandal in 2001, a Suffolk County cop Frank Wright was busted for forcing several female motorists to strip in exchange for letting them out of tickets.

He pleaded guilty in 2003 and served five years in federal prison.

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