A jury late Friday found a former Clearwater police officer not guilty of raping a tourist in Clearwater Beach last October.

Nicolas Paloma faced felony charges of sexual battery and bribery after police said he picked up an intoxicated woman in his police vehicle in the early morning hours of Oct. 15, 2023 and coerced her into sex acts. Paloma was later arrested and fired from the department.

The jury of five men and one woman deliberated for roughly an hour in Pinellas County court, concluding just before 7:30 p.m.

Paloma, 30, smiled and pumped his fist as he rose to exit the courtroom. In the hallway, he shared a group hug with family members who had watched the four days of trial.

“Not guilty,” Paloma said when asked for comment after the verdict. His attorney, Roger Futerman, said he was “very happy with the jury.” Members of Paloma’s family thanked and embraced Futerman and his co-counsel, Katie Ingram.

Paloma’s acquittal came two days after the woman accusing him took the stand. She said on Wednesday that the officer spotted her walking into a roundabout after she was nearly struck by passing cars. He threw on the emergency lights of his unmarked police Ford Explorer to stop her, she recalled.

The Tampa Bay Times is not naming the woman due to the sensitive nature of the allegations.

The woman accused Paloma of telling her she was “disorderly” and jaywalking, telling her to get in his car. She said he drove her around Clearwater Beach for nearly 30 minutes, mentioning that he was looking for a place with no cameras. Eventually, he pulled into a darkened area and coerced her to perform sex acts, she testified.

“I felt I had to do what he wanted,” she said on the stand. At the conclusion of her testimony, she broke down in tears.

Futerman, the lead defense attorney, repeatedly described the case as a matter of “he said-she said” — one in which jurors had to decide whose version of events was more credible. Paloma did not deny having a sexual encounter with the woman but said it was consensual.

“This is mutual participation by two people,” Futerman said. “If you have a doubt about the consent in this case, you must find Mr. Paloma not guilty.”

Paloma took the stand Friday and said the woman had been flirting with him when he first encountered her around midnight while he was working an off-duty security shift at Coco’s Crush Bar. He testified that he came across her again walking through the roundabout and turned on his emergency lights. The moment was caught on surveillance video.

“I told her, ‘Hey, you gotta be careful, you almost got hit by a car,’” Paloma said.

He said he offered her a “courtesy ride” to her hotel.

Prosecutors, in building their case, had noted that Paloma turned off his body-worn camera and police computer, which would have allowed his car to be tracked by GPS. On the stand, Paloma described those as habitual actions he took on his way home after work.

“He was driving her around aimlessly for 30 minutes,” said prosecutor Christie Ellis. “He was trying to make small talk with her. But he was always implying you’ve got to do something for me.”

Paloma said he drove to several Marriotts because the woman didn’t remember where she was staying. Police used surveillance footage and information from the GPS before it was turned off to determine that he had traveled to four Marriotts, including the woman’s, which he said she did not recognize.

After driving around, Paloma testified, the woman initiated a sexual encounter with him. He expressed regret in court for allowing it to happen.

When he dropped her off at the hotel, he said, she threw a drink at him and stormed off, complaining that he would not walk her inside.

Within days, police surrounded Paloma’s Clearwater home, including K-9 units and a helicopter. He was arrested and brought into the station as officers confiscated his unmarked vehicle and equipment.

Paloma told jurors no one explained what he was being arrested for until he was in handcuffs and being booked.

He repeatedly asserted that he had no indication the woman, a married mother of two, was drunk when he picked her up — though blood and urine tests presented in court Thursday indicated her blood-alcohol content at the time of the incident was likely between 0.102 to 0.291, above the threshold at which Florida law presumes it’s unsafe for a person to drive.

During an hour-long cross-examination, prosecutors repeatedly pressed the former officer, asking whether he at any time thought the woman’s behavior was abnormal or a sign she was drunk.

“He wants you to believe that he, as a trained law enforcement officer, had no idea she was intoxicated. Is that reasonable? Absolutely not,” Ellis said during the state’s closing argument.

The defense focused on what they called inconsistencies in the woman’s initial statements to police as well as cell phone records that appeared to show her repeatedly hanging up on her friend during the car ride when she told jurors she felt she was in danger.

Futerman characterized her actions as those of an “extremely aggressive and assertive” woman under the influence of alcohol. In his closing argument, he showed jurors security camera footage of her walking into the lobby of the hotel and arguing with her friend.

After the jury returned their verdict, Clearwater Police Chief Eric Gandy, who called Paloma’s actions “reprehensible” in the days after his arrest, said though he respects and accepts the outcome of the trial, it does not change the fact that the former officer breached the public trust.

“Former Officer Nicolas Paloma engaged in multiple policy violations, including sexual activity with a citizen he stopped in a police car while in full uniform,” Gandy said. “The verdict does not change the fact that his actions diminished the public’s trust and cost him his career.”

Times staff writer Dan Sullivan contributed to this report.