Trial Begins for Ex-cop Accused of Rape at Massachusetts Police Station

A former Massachusetts police officer accused of a 2016 rape in a station holding cell says the sexual acts were consensual, according to the Salem News .

The accuser, a young man who had been taken into protective custody because he was severely intoxicated, said that Officer Brian Butler led him to a closet and propositioned him for a sex act.

Prosecutor Kate MacDougall contends that this was coercion, not consent.

MacDougall quoted the young man as saying, “I was in fear because he was a police officer."

Butler was a 24-year veteran of the department when he was charged.

The trial is expected to last about a week.