NEW YORK — An NYPD captain accused in a lawsuit of raping an officer at Yankee Stadium has been fired, the Daily News has learned.
Capt. Jeffrey Brienza, 49, was fired in October after pleading guilty to administrative charges, though an NYPD spokesman said details about the charges and the plea would not be made public because he is no longer a cop.
The News reported in December 2021 that a 47-year-old officer quit the force a month earlier because Brienza allegedly repeatedly raped her at the ballpark, where they were both assigned to a coveted detail.
Fred Lichtmacher, the lawyer for the alleged victim, now 49, said the firing was justified.
“It couldn’t happen to a more deserving individual,” Lichtmacher told The News on Tuesday. “It’s too bad it took this long, but bravo to the Police Department. Let’s see more of this when cops are accused.”
The officer who quit claims in a Bronx Supreme Court lawsuit that Brienza first sexually assaulted her after work in a bathroom at the Bronx ballpark in June 2020 and then continued to force himself on her for more than a year after that. Her suit is still pending.
“There were times when I used to feel like it’s unending,” the ex-cop, who asked to remain anonymous, told The News. “I would cry a lot of times. I would just wonder how am I going to get out of this. I saw no end. I felt so stuck. ... I just felt so worthless and without any purpose.”
When the 20-year-veteran started the Stadium detail, Brienza made her his personal driver and insisted she run errands with him — then allegedly attacked her in the bathroom three months into her assignment.
“He grabbed me from behind around my waist,” the retiree recalled. “I grabbed him and I was peeling his hands from around my waist and I felt his grip tightening and at that point I realized what he was doing so I said, ‘No.’ He said, ‘Yes.’ "
The mother of three alleges Brienza forced her to perform oral sex on him, then pushed her up against a sink and raped her, the lawsuit details.
“There was a lot of things going through my head,” the officer remembered. “I was kind of blaming myself like maybe I could have yelled louder.”
Brienza later admitted to her he could get in trouble if she told anyone what had happened, the ex-cop said.
“Everyone thinks he’s a great guy,” she said at the time. “Everyone loves him. I was new to the Stadium. I was afraid to say anything because he’s the captain.”
The alleged abuse continued, with Brienza forcing her to perform oral sex on him in his office or in her car, sometimes more than once a day, the lawsuit alleges.
After telling her union rep what was going on, the Internal Affairs Bureau opened an investigation, with Brienza transferred to the 25th Precinct in East Harlem.
Brienza could not be reached for comment Tuesday, and his former union rep did not respond to a request for comment.
