Two Carroll Gardens police officers won Cop of the Month honors for nabbing a cabbie in February who the authorities say raped a fare.
Officers David Sanon and Tsering Yougyal exemplified good police work when they brought the driver into the precinct based on his allegedly shady demeanor, before they even heard a rape had occurred, according to the 76th Precinct’s commanding officer.
“Anything could have been going on, but they were able to pick up on his behavior,” said Deputy Inspector Natalie Maldonado.
Sanon and Yougyal first noticed the driver when he blew two red lights in succession on Union Street on Feb. 2, Maldonado said. When they pulled him over, the officers say they noticed a woman’s handbag in the front passenger seat, and the driver explained that a passenger left it there and he was on his way to the precinct to drop it off.
But this rang false to the cops, as the driver had just driven past the precinct station house between Henry and Hicks streets without stopping, so they ordered him to drive back to the station, Maldonado said. As they were escorting him, a call came in over the radio saying a woman had reported a green cab driver drove off with her handbag. The cabbie fit the description, and when the woman came into the station to identify the suspect, she told cops that he had climbed into the cab’s back seat and raped her, Maldonado said.
The victim was transported to Kings County Hospital Center, according to a report.
Maldonado praised the officers for thinking quickly and noticing the alleged attacker’s nervousness.
“Because they pulled him over, they were able to catch a rapist,” she said.
