Sharda was the first Indian American police officer in Worcester.
By Raif Karerat
WASHINGTON, DC: A former Indian American police officer is on trial in Massachusetts on the charge of sexually assaulting a woman while on duty in 2014.
In the opening statements of the rape trial against the former Worcester Police Officer Rajat Sharda, Assistant District Attorney Ryan Donahue said Sharda found a man and woman having sex inside a sport-utility-vehicle at the Bancroft Tower parking lot.
The prosecutor told a jury in Worcester Superior Court that Sharda then handcuffed the man inside the vehicle and ordered the woman to stand outside his cruiser, where he allegedly demanded the nude woman to take off a blanket, reported local news outlet Mass Live.
Instead of checking to make sure she wasn’t concealing any weapons as he had initially told her, Donahue stated Sharda sexually assaulted his victim and then masturbated in front of her. After the horrific encounter had run its course, Sharda allegedly threatened the woman to keep quiet about it.
“He was asking me what I’d be willing to do to not be arrested,” the victim stated in court. Michael Betancourt, the man who was with the alleged victim, testified he saw Sharda take a blanket from the woman that morning.
Defense attorney Peter Ettenberg pointed out that Sharda was the first Indian officer in the city’s history, according to Mass Live.
“He made history. He knew how important that was,” Ettenberg said. “He was proud of it. He would never jeopardize that history, that legacy.”
Ettenberg said his client moved to Shrewsbury at age 17 after leaving India. Sharda went to high school and college locally and was married to a woman in India. He is facing charges of rape, open and gross lewdness, intimidation of a witness, and larceny.
1 Comment
where was the Camera?? every police officer vehicle has one!