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| “ | All my life, beautiful whores like you have taken advantage, looked the other way. You know what I did for 20 years? The things I saw? The lives I saved? You don't care! | „ |
| ~ Tom Cole berating Quinn Berris while holding her at gunpoint. |
Tom Cole is the main antagonist of the Law & Order: Special Victims Unit episode "Next Chapter". He is a retired NYPD sergeant who stalks and rapes Quinn Berris, the stalking victim of a man he sent to prison.
He was portrayed by Chris Bauer, who also portrayed Lloyd Gettys in The Devil's Advocate, Machine in 8mm, and Ted Bryar in Criminal Minds.
Biography[]
Early life[]
Cole was a sergeant with the NYPD for 20 years. Four years prior to the events of the episode, he saved Quinn Berris, one of his daughter's classmates at Rutgers University, from her stalker, Ray Wilson, who had broken into her apartment. Wilson went to prison for breaking and entering. Cole and Berris stayed in touch, and he became obsessed with her, making increasingly aggressive overtures to her that she politely ignored.
After Cole retired, he began stalking Berris, who was now working at a consulting firm. Berris had no idea what he was doing, and remained friendly with him and his wife, Linda.
"Next Chapter"[]
One night, Cole, wearing a mask and gloves, follows Berris home from a bar and attacks her, pushing her in her apartment and raping her before fleeing. Berris calls 9-11 and tells Lieutenant Olivia Benson and Detective Fin Tutuola of the NYPD's Special Victims Unit that she believes Wilson, who had been paroled a few months earlier, is her rapist.
Benson and Detective Dominick Carisi, Jr. interview Cole, who says that he also suspects Wilson. It turns out that Wilson has an alibi, however, even though a cigarette butt with his DNA is found at the scene of the crime. Realizing that someone planted the evidence, Tutuola and his partner, Detective Amanda Rollins, ask Wilson if anyone has been bothering him, and he replies that someone in a black SUV was following him the night of the assault. Rollins looks through surveillance video of Wilson's workplace and sees someone get out of a black Cadillac and run in and out of the building after Wilson takes a smoke break, taking his cigarette. Carisi researches the car's license plate and finds out that the car is registered to Linda.
Tutuola and Rollins talk to Cole under the guise of wanting more information about Wilson. When Cole lies about where he had last seen Wilson, they suspect that he is the rapist. Benson and Carisi then talk to Linda, who admits that Cole had left their house around the time of the assault and did not come back until the next morning; she then says that he had told her to lie about where he had been. Tutuola and Rollins go the hotel where Berris is staying, only to find out that she had left with Cole moments earlier.
Benson and Carisi track Cole to a farmhouse owned by his brother, where he is holding Berris hostage. Benson tries to persuade Cole to let Berris go while he rants that no one appreciates him and that Berris "disrespected" him by ignoring his advances. Meanwhile, Carisi sneaks into the house and tries to save Berris, but Cole gets the better of him and puts a gun to his head. Just as he is about to kill Carisi, however, Benson shoots Cole in the head, killing him.
External links[]
- Tom Cole on the Law & Order Wiki
