Former Clearwater police officer in court for raping woman

On a dark early morning last October, a woman stumbled from a night of drinking onto a busy road in Clearwater Beach. A police officer in an unmarked SUV pulled over with his red and blue lights flashing. He told her she was acting “disorderly” and ordered her to get into his vehicle. She did as he said.

What happened in that car over the next 30 minutes is at the heart of a trial that began this week in a Pinellas County courtroom. Former Clearwater police officer Nicolas Paloma is accused of raping the 32-year-old tourist.

The trial comes just eight months after Paloma’s dismissal and arrest. The city’s police chief described his actions as a shocking “breach of trust” that damaged the reputation of all police officers.

A jury will decide whether 30-year-old Paloma is guilty of sexual abuse and bribery charges.

Sitting at the defense table, Paloma appeared distressed, sometimes frowning or frowning as the prosecutor portrayed him as a cop who had abused his power to get what he wanted from a defenseless woman. The state noted that he had turned off his car’s GPS. and a body-worn camera before the incident.

“He abused his authority as a law enforcement officer,” Assistant District Attorney Samantha McIntyre told the jury. “He did everything wrong that night.”

Due to the sensitivity of the allegations, the Tampa Bay Times is not naming the woman.

Paloma, who had no history of problems in the five years he worked for the Clearwater Police Department, did not deny that he had had a sexual encounter with the woman. But his defense attorneys argued that what happened that early morning was not rape.

They found inconsistencies in what she told police immediately after the incident, including a statement that she didn’t care what happened. They also noted that she had not tried to leave, and when a friend called her, she said nothing about being in danger or trouble. They claimed the woman had been “flirty” when she first saw Paloma at a bar earlier that evening, and tried to put a $20 bill in his uniform, which the woman vehemently denied.

“(The woman) made a series of decisions and actions that resulted in alcohol-fueled consensual sexual acts with Mr. Paloma,” defense attorney Katie Ingram told the jury.

The woman, a married mother of two children, was the first witness the prosecution called into the courtroom. She was small and slim, with long brown hair and glasses. She testified for most of Wednesday and at times burst into tears.

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She spoke softly, her voice often trembling as she described her sometimes hazy memories.

She was in town for a weekend getaway with her childhood best friend. They arrived on Friday, October 13, and checked into a room at the AC Marriott hotel, just steps from Clearwater’s powdery sand beaches. On their first night in St. Petersburg, they went out for dinner and drinks, where her friend tripped on a construction barrier and injured her ankle.

After an overnight hospital stay, they returned to the hotel, slept and spent the day by the pool, then went to bars and restaurants along Coronado Drive and Gulfview Boulevard, drinking cocktails, bottled water and beer. She became increasingly drunk.

Shortly after midnight, they were standing in front of Coco’s Crush Bar, discussing where they wanted to go next. There they met Paloma for the first time.

The officer was off-duty but in full uniform as he was working a security shift at the bar.

The woman remembered talking to him about which shops were open late.

They went to another bar. At around 2:30 a.m., her friend complained of pain in her injured ankle and wanted to take an Uber back to the hotel. They started arguing, but the woman couldn’t remember why. Her friend walked away. The woman tried to follow her. She couldn’t see the crosswalk at the roundabout near Mandalay Avenue. She stepped into the road.

Paloma pulled up in his unmarked police SUV. He rolled down a window and told her not to cross. She said she was going to her hotel. She remembered him telling her that if she crossed the street it would be “messy.” He told her to get in the car.

“I felt like I would be arrested if I didn’t listen to him,” she said.

She got in the passenger seat. He told her he would take her to the hotel, she said, but asked what she could do for him. But immediately, she said, Paloma drove over a bridge into town. It was dark. She remembered faint orange lights.

“I remember panicking and freaking out and saying, ‘Please stop. You’re going in the wrong direction,'” she said.

She remembered him saying something about taking her to a place where there were no cameras.

She told him she had to go to the bathroom. He drove into a dark area and told her she could go into the bushes. She did so and then got back in the passenger seat. He told her he hadn’t planned on crossing the bridge.

“I thought maybe I was just worrying too much,” she said. “It’s a police officer.”

She told him the name of her hotel. He said he knew where it was and began driving while making “small talk,” she said. During the drive, he reached out and touched her inappropriately, she said. She sat quietly and looked out the window. She said she felt helpless to fight back.

He parked in a construction site. It was dark. She didn’t know where she was. He unbuckled his police vest and duty belt and pulled down his pants. She said he implied that he wanted her to perform a sexual act.

“I felt like I had to do what he wanted,” she said. “As a police officer, he was the only one in control of the situation. I had no way to protect myself.”

When it was over, she said, she asked again if she could walk to her hotel. He pointed and told her it was nearby. She got out and walked the short distance to the lobby where her friend was waiting.

She angrily confronted her for leaving her behind. She pushed her friend. A hotel security guard noticed the commotion and called the police.

The officers arrived wearing the same uniform as the man she had just met. She felt uncomfortable and had the feeling that they didn’t believe her.

Police later found her phone in Paloma’s vehicle.

During cross-examination, defense attorney Roger Futerman asked her why she didn’t leave. She reiterated that she felt she had no choice. She couldn’t remember if the car door was locked. She didn’t know where she was.

She was tired, still drunk and felt extremely uncomfortable during the long police interrogations that followed. She didn’t know who she could trust.

She said she simply could not remember many of the defense attorney’s questions.

The trial is expected to last until Friday.

Times writer Brandon Kingdollar contributed to this report.