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Tony Griegs is the main antagonist of the Law & Order: Special Victims Unit episode "Disabled". He is a serial rapist who victimizes disabled women and girls out of vengeance for having lost his job to a disabled person.
He was portrayed by Ralph Byers.
Biography[]
Griegs worked as a bus driver for MTA until he was sacked for sexually molesting his female co-workers. He got a new job with Parabus, a transport company servicing disabled people. His wife divorced him due to his alcoholism, domestic violence, and spending all her money on gambling, liquor, dogfighting, and sex workers.
Griegs' rage reached boiling point when he was told that he would be laid off from his job with Parabus and put in charge of training his intended replacement: Jake Gleason, a disabled man who Parabus were required to hire under the Americans with Disabilities Act. Griegs was enraged and, blaming the disabled for his impending job loss, took advantage of his remaining time with Parabus to rape disabled women and girls who used his bus service. His victims included Beth Myers, an intellectually disabled girl who Griegs had offered to take care of while her mother was absent, and Julie Anderson, a woman using a breathing apparatus. He later began stalking Cara Raleigh, a paraplegic with multiple sclerosis, after inserting himself into her life by helping her nephew Damien to get a job cleaning up after a dogfighting ring owned by one of his associates.
"Disabled"[]
Griegs breaks into Cara's apartment using Damien's key and rapes her, throwing her out of her wheelchair and leaving her prone on the floor. Later that day, Griegs is coaching Gleason through his daily rounds when they get to Cara's stop. Griegs "notices" that Cara isn't there and tells Gleason they need to look for her, making sure to be the one to enter her apartment in order to explain any trace evidence he left during the break-in. As Cara's disability renders her unable to talk, she cannot tell the police it was Griegs who attacked her and he is not suspected, with the investigation focusing on Cara's abusive sister Janice. Griegs assists in the investigation by corroborating Damien's alibi that he was at the dogfighting ring and that Damien told him Janice was skimming from Cara's bank account.
However, the Special Victims Unit begin to suspect Griegs after Damien tells them that he left his apartment key with Griegs on the night of the attack, meaning he was the only person other than Janice and Damien with access to the apartment. Cara is able to non-verbally confirm that Griegs attacked her; however, her identification cannot be used in court because her disability would prevent her from being effectively cross-examined. Further investigation leads the SVU to uncover Grieg's history of assaulting women at MTA and the fact that he was about to be fired from Parabus in favour of Gleason, but none of this is admissible as evidence.
Frustrated with the SVU's inability to arrest Griegs, Damien attacks him on his bus and beats him to a pulp before trying to strangle him. Gleason calls the police and Detective Fin Tutuola manages to talk Damien down, saving Griegs' life. Soon after, forensics manage to extract Griegs' fingerprint from the inside of Cara's adult diaper, giving the detectives probable cause to arrest him. Griegs is not fazed however, and claims that he and Cara had a consensual relationship, knowing that Cara will not be able to testify different.
Hoping to find more victims, Detective Olivia Benson begins looking for female passengers who suddenly stopped using Griegs' bus. She identifies Beth Myers and Julie Anderson, who both confirm that they were raped, but like Cara the two of them cannot speak and would be unable to testify in court. However, Benson recalls that Cara still has limited hand movement and would be able to identify Griegs that way. Assistant District Attorney Garret Blaine agrees to file charges against Griegs and puts Cara on the stand; when Grieg's lawyer objects to Cara's non-verbal identification, Blaine asks her to point to her rapist, and with visible exertion she succeeds in pointing at Griegs, who stares back in defeat as the episode ends. He is then presumably convicted of rape.
External links[]
- Tony Griegs on the Law & Order Wiki
