Rape charges were dropped Wednesday against the two former New York Police Department officers accused of assaulting an 18-year-old woman in the back of a police van.

The Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office in a statement cited “serious credibility issues” in its case regarding Anna Chambers, who told investigators and BuzzFeed News that she and friends were confronted in September 2017 by two officers for alleged marijuana possession. Her friends were let go, and Chambers said she was handcuffed and placed in the back of a police van, where the officers took turns raping her.

Surveillance video showed the officers later dropping Chambers off, and a rape kit found semen matching the DNA of detectives Eddie Martins and Richard Hall. The officers resigned from the NYPD, and in October 2017, they were charged with 43 crimes, including rape and kidnapping.

But on Wednesday, those charges were dropped, and Martins and Hall will face trial only for taking bribes and official misconduct — counts that don’t relate to what Chambers, now 20, said she experienced.

“It’s outrageous. It’s shocking that these rapists can get off the hook,” Chambers’ attorney Mike David told BuzzFeed News. “It’s just unbelievable.”

The former officers did not refute the DNA evidence as the case proceeded, but their attorney, Mark Bederow, told BuzzFeed News that the men did not rape Chambers and said she had lied in several statements.

Wednesday’s news brought relief to his clients, but Bederow said he believed Chambers’ statements were red flags that should have prevented prosecutors from ever pursuing rape charges.

“We’re also frustrated because they never should have been brought in the first place,” he said.

