2 ex-cops acquitted in masturbation case

A FEDERAL JURY yesterday acquitted two ex-cops in a case in which one was accused of masturbating in front of a woman without her consent while he was on duty as a plainclothes narcotics cop during a drug raid in an abandoned Kensington rowhouse in 2009.

The panel of seven women and five men deliberated about three hours before clearing Joseph Harvey, 39, of a count of violating the woman’s civil right to be “free from an unreasonable seizure by a police officer.”

It also acquitted Sean Cahill, 34, of making a false statement to the FBI. When the foreman announced the verdicts, the wives of both Harvey and Cahill wept. Harvey showed no reaction; Cahill smiled.