Witnesses: NYPD cop embellished on stand

An NYPD officer accused of rape embellished his testimony during three days on the witness stand, asserted two prosecution witnesses appearing Thursday in his Manhattan Supreme Court trial.

District attorney's investigator Edward Tacchi, who took Officer Kenneth Moreno into custody in 2008 when the officer was accused of raping a drunk fashion executive after escorting her to her apartment, contradicted Moreno's claim to jurors that he immediately denied having sex with the woman when he was arrested.

"He did not say that," testified Tacchi, who recalled that the 20-year veteran officer said nothing other than asking for a lawyer.

A second rebuttal witness, paramedic Manuel Karamanos, contradicted Moreno's testimony that the reason he didn't call an ambulance for the drunk woman was that he once aided a heart attack victim who died while paramedics were delayed by treating a drunk.

Recounting for jurors a wrenching story of how he assisted in unsuccessful CPR on the elderly man while waiting for medics, Moreno said that made him hesitate to call an ambulance for the Gap fashion designer -- not the desire to take sexual advantage of her.

But Karamanos, who had handled the heart-attack case, said his records showed his truck hadn't been on a drunk call. The paramedic said the victim was face down when he arrived and had not received CPR from Moreno or anyone else.

"There's no way to give CPR to a patient who is face down," he testified.

Moreno, 43, and his partner, Officer Franklin Mata, 29, are charged with raping the 29-year-old woman during three post-midnight visits to her apartment on Dec. 7, 2008, after helping her upstairs from a cab. They are charged with rape, burglary and official misconduct.

Thursday's testimony did not address the central issue in the case -- whether Moreno had sex with the woman while she was barely conscious. He denies it, but if jurors are convinced he lied about some things, they could doubt his word on the sex.

The trial is in its sixth week.