A patient who claims an ER technician fondled him while he was sedated at a Florida hospital is suing for $5 million, Local 10 in Miami reports.
“He put his hand on my boxers,” the victim, whose name has not been released, said. “He grabbed my private part, and he started playing with it and squeezing it.”
The man was under sedation and being treated for leg and back pain when police say ER technician Rene Martinez grabbed him by the crotch.
“I was like, ‘What’s going on?’ and he was like, ‘I was just checking to make sure you’re OK.’ That’s when I say, ‘OK this guy is up to something,'” the victim said.
Martinez then left the room. He returned a few minutes later to grab the man’s crotch again. Unbeknownst to him, however, the victim had switched on his cellphone camera and was filming the entire thing.
“He was saying I could make money from one of his friends by showing my private parts,” the victim alleged.
Afterwards, he complained to the hospital. Two weeks later, he handed over the video to police. Martinez was arrested and charged with two counts of simple battery and two counts of an unnatural and lascivious act.
Despite the rather damning video evidence, Martinez insists he’s innocent.
“We are going to fight this,” his attorney, Sabino Jauregui, said. “The video doesn’t tell the whole story… We believe the action might have been consensual.”
The victim is now suing the hospital for $5 million for not protecting him from the sexual assault. He also claims his life has been ruined and that the incident stirred painful, long-buried memories of the time he was molested as a child.
So far the hospital is not commenting on the incident.
See the NSFW video, obtained by Local 10, below. What do you think? Does it look consensual to you?
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Graham Gremore is a columnist and contributor for Queerty and Life of the Law. Follow him on Facebook and Twitter.
Paco
He has that pervy sex offender look about him. The double take at the camera when he realizes he has been busted is priceless.
rickhfx
I didn’t see anything in the video.
kyleroberts
An ER technician is NOT a nurse….get your facts right Queerty, don’t disrespect my profession
jay512
This appears to be consensual to me. How could he not notice the guy busting out his camera?
Roan
So he held the camera while he was being assaulted instead of yelling out no, stop, or help?
DesertSun
I don’t know if it was consensual or not, but even if it wasn’t, $5 million is excessive.
cflekken
Not one attempt to make him stop. Not one attempt to cover his genitals so the tech couldn’t fondle them. Not one attempt to call for help.
Chip
On another article the victim says he was to scared and sedated to call out for help… yet he can pull our his cellphone and start rolling. I am not passing judgment on if he was indeed assaulted or not, but it seems like his story is a bit odd.
stranded
if he called out for help when it first happened, then it would have been he said/ he said. My guess is that he saw the payday in the situation and allowed himself to get fondled the second time just so he can get proof. Either way the technician was a buffoon.
Bromancer7
Yeah, no attempt whatsoever to stop him, either verbally or physically, but has the wherewithal to video the encounter. Smells fishy to me too.
Blackceo
Something not quite right about this whole setup. Maybe I watch too much tv but that would be a great scam. Walk away and split $5 million minus whatever legal fees have to be paid.
james_in_cambridge
Ah, shit! Cue the “what do you expect from the ungodly, perverted animals” speeches and the fake outrage from the far-right any minute now.
james_in_cambridge
Unless he was so sedated that he couldn’t move, which doesn’t appear to be the case since he took out his phone and started taping when the tech walked back into the room, why would he let the man fondle him again? 99% of straight guys in the patient’s position would punch the technician. Sounds to me like when the guy touched him initially and left the room, dollar signs popped out of his eyes like in the old Bugs Bunny cartoons and he decided to get molested again on camera in order to get some proof. His behavior is more than questionable. However, the technicians behavior is flat-out unforgivable! He’ll lose his job and probably get prosecuted for what he did and I hope the gay and civil liberties organizations have enough common sense to not publicly defend him!
james_in_cambridge
@Blackceo: Both of them do seem to suffer from a complete lack of judgement, which even in Kardashian America, is still rather rare. A money-making conspiracy between the two at least makes a bit more sense than what the patient says happened.
neoboi
@kyleroberts: an Er Tech may not be a Nurse but we (usually) are pretty kick ass and severly undervalued members of the critical team. This putz who did this is a disgrace to all bedside Care professionals period….consensual or not that’s a line no Caregiver should ever cross. Fry his ass either way.
tardis
This does looks consensual to me, still the technician shouldn’t be doing things like this.
jason smeds
Ravish me, Nurse Hunk-A-Burnin’-Love….
enfilmigult
Yeesh, these comments. Calling out for help or pushing his hand away is not what makes it molestation. The guy touching him without permission is what makes it molestation, period. If the guy was stealing his wallet, would you say it isn’t really theft because the sedated patient filmed him doing it instead of trying to leap out of bed and stop him in the act?
GlenRN
Correct your headline and don’t unnecessarily disparage the nursing profession. . . The accused in an ER Technician, NOT a nurse. Nurse is a legally-protected title (in many states) and the term needs to be used correctly.
Sansacro
@james_in_cambridge: Lol. $$$$
Sansacro
@enfilmigult: If you can hold a camera, you can push a hand away. I’m not convinced this was unwelcome, but I wasn’t there; in any case, bad judgment from technician, and will have to accept responsibility for whatever happens.
lykeitiz
What seems suspicious is that the Tech leaves him uncovered afterwards. If it was not consensual and the Tech thought the patient was passed out, why wouldn’t he cover him back up? Not covering makes it seem like the Tech knew the patient was awake & lucid.
Hugely inappropriate either way, though!
DonW
Why do prosecutors resort to antiquated charges like “unnatural and lascivious act” (or, often enough, “sodomy”) in cases like these? Isn’t it enough to charge this miscreant with sexual assault? It’s not the fact that one man is touching another man’s pee-pee that is the crime here.
I'm Black, and HIV-Positive.
I don’t know if consensual is the issue. It certainly is unprofessional.