Officer in rape horror

Attacked teach: cops

By JAMIE SCHRAM, LARRY CELONA and BILL SANDERSON

Last Updated: 1:08 AM, August 20, 2011

Posted: 1:08 AM, August 20, 2011

Pe?a, who had been off-duty since 8 a.m. Thursday, encountered his 25-year-old victim on the street and asked her directions, the sources said.

The woman, a teacher heading to work in The Bronx, smelled booze on Pe?a's breath as the officer allegedly put his arm menacingly around her.

Pe?a opened up his jacket to show a gun on his hip -- a standard police-issue 9mm Glock -- and growled, "You're coming with me!" the sources said.

He then allegedly removed the gun from its holster and pointed it at the woman, forcing her to the back yard of a residential building on Park Terrace West, where two witnesses saw the assault.

One witness told Pe?a, "I live here! Get out of here!" reported neighbor Cole Thompson.

"I'm almost done," the boozed-up cop allegedly replied. "I'm almost finished. We'll be out of here soon."

Thompson and another witness called 911.

Arriving cops tackled Pe?a, police said. As they handcuffed him, they found his badge and NYPD identification in his pocket. His gun was on the ground nearby.

The victim was treated at a hospital. Pe?a has been suspended without pay.

"He's not strange or weird; you never would have guessed this," said one source.

Sources said investigators are seeking the cop's DNA to bolster their case.

"Overall, it's a safe neighborhood," said Thompson, noting the still-unsolved 2004 slaying of Juilliard student Sara Fox in nearby Inwood Hill Park, which "was a big blow to the neighborhood.

"This is just a weird, freaky thing. This never happens up here."

A local lawmaker, state Sen. Adriano Espaillat (D-Manhattan), said the attack rocked the neighborhood.

"It's terrible that someone from the department may have perpetrated this crime," he said.

Fourteen rapes have been reported so far this year in the 34th Precinct.

Additional reporting by Vinita Singla

jamie.schram@nypost.com