Police Officer Charged With Sex Crime Against Uber Driver: Prosecutor

KEY POINTS

The 23-year-old police officer was charged with one count of criminal sexual contact
Investigators said the officer was off duty at the time of the alleged incident
The alleged victim said she had never met her assailant, but he identified himself to her as a cop

A 23-year-old police officer in Newark, New Jersey, was arrested Friday and charged with a sex crime stemming from an alleged incident involving an Uber driver, the Hudson County Prosecutor's Office said.

Karon Bell, of Newark, was charged with one count of criminal sexual contact, a fourth-degree crime, according to a statement from Hudson County Prosecutor Esther Suarez obtained by Hudson County View.

Bell was arrested by the Newark Police Department Office of Professional Standards Friday before being taken into custody by the Hudson County Prosecutor's Office Special Victims Unit.

Bell was released on a summons. He is set to make his first court appearance on Feb. 25.

Bell's arrest comes two months after an unidentified 36-year-old woman told officers with the Kearny Police Department on Dec. 11, 2021, that she was the victim of a sex crime while she was on shift as an Uber driver.

The woman told investigations that she had never met the assailant before but that the suspect identified himself to her as a cop.

Bell was identified as the assailant following an investigation by the prosecutor's office's special victims unit.

Investigators said Bell was off duty at the time of the alleged incident.

Suarez thanked the Kearny Police Department and Newark Police Department for their assistance during the special victims unit's investigation.

In related news, a 39-year-old Uber driver was grazed by a gunman's bullet while dropping off a passenger in New York City Thursday, police said.

The shooting occurred early morning on Thursday near the corner of Ocean Avenue and Farragut Road in the Flatbush neighborhood of Brooklyn, AMNY reported, citing unnamed law enforcement sources.

The driver was letting a customer out of his vehicle when the gunman walked up to the car and fired a shot that wound up grazing the driver's back, police said.

The gunman then walked back to a silver, two-door Volvo sedan that fled the scene, according to authorities.

The driver was brought to a hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.

The shooter has not yet been identified and remains at large. He was described as a Black man wearing a white T-shirt, police sources told AMNY.

Anyone with information regarding the incident is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 800-577-TIPS (for Spanish, dial 888-57-PISTA) or submit tips online at crimestoppers.nypdonline.org or on Twitter @NYPDTips.