Watertown Police Officer Faces Rape Trial Over Alleged 2021 Assault After South End Night Out

A Watertown police officer is standing trial on rape charges tied to an alleged assault in June 2021, according to court documents. Prosecutors say a rape kit showed bruising on the woman and a likely DNA match to the officer.

A grand jury indicted officer Kevin Rooney in 2022. He faces two counts of rape and a charge of assault and battery related to the incident, in which he is accused of anally raping a woman after a night of drinking in Boston's South End. The court docket shows his jury trial began Monday in Middlesex Superior Court.

Detective Sergeant Kenneth Swift of the Watertown Police Department said Rooney has been on unpaid administrative leave since the incident was reported. Swift said the department is carrying out its own investigation. He could not say when Rooney joined the force.

Court documents describe the woman as having been out with friends at Capo, a South End restaurant. She told investigators that she blacked out after taking a shot. She then woke up beside a man she did not know, later identified as Rooney, who was off duty at the time.

Surveillance video from the restaurant showed the two dancing and interacting. Just after midnight, Rooney led her out, and she was not wearing shoes, according to the documents.

After waking, the woman asked Rooney what had happened. Court documents say he told her she had vomited in the Lyft on the way to his home and again in his bed. He allegedly said he removed her clothes and his sheets to wash them and placed her in the shower, where she later found her wet underwear. The documents allege Rooney also told her she had been "handsy" and that the two had hooked up.

The woman reportedly became upset and said she thought that was "messed up" given the circumstances. According to the Commonwealth's statement of the case, he responded that he "realized that now."

The woman gathered her belongings and went home. She then contacted police and went to a hospital for a rape kit, prosecutors said. The documents state she had bruising on her arms and thigh as well as an abrasion on her upper thigh. The kit showed that DNA and sperm most likely came from Rooney.

In 2023, the Peace Officer Standards and Training Commission suspended Rooney because of the felony charges against him.