Results tagged “brutality”

A Queens man says cops roughed him up in a holding cell at the 103rd precinct earlier this month, following a late night DWI arrest. 21-year-old Imran Ali was intoxicated when police allegedly slammed him into a brick wall and cell bars—which is the last thing he remembers before waking up at Jamaica Hospital handcuffed to a bed, with multiple staples and stitches on his forehead. He was arrested on July 17th around 4:54 a.m. after crashing his vehicle head-on into a parked car in Jamaica. But Ali insists he wasn't even the one driving the car (was it Harvey?) and his attorneys are demanding the Queens DA review video from the holding cell cameras. The NYPD maintains that Ali became combative and either fell or jumped from a cell bench. In a statement, NYPD spokesman Paul Browne says, "Contrary to his lawyer's assertion that Ali was a passenger in a car driven by someone else who was also arrested, Ali was alone and he was the only individual arrested." Well, somebody's fibbing, but regardless, you probably shouldn't click on this link to the 1010 Wins story unless you enjoy close-up photos of stapled skull wounds.

    

Greenpoint resident Chrissie Brodigan says she was riding on the L train between Bedford and First Avenue when her pug, who has health problems, overheated and began vomiting in the tote bag she was carrying him in. As she was leaving the subway station with the dog in her arms, she says a police officer's attempt to issue her a ticket turned ugly, and when she became upset the cop began saying, "If you're going to act like a woman I'm going to treat you like a woman." [We've updated with photos of Brodigan's arrest. July 1 update: A new post with details about another witness's account is here. ]

As expected, NYPD officer Patrick Pogan, the rookie cop caught on video slamming a cyclist to the curb in a seemingly unprovoked assault during a July Critical Mass ride, turned himself in this morning. The grand jury indictment was then unsealed at State Supreme Court in Manhattan, and, according to NY1, Pogan was arraigned on a misdemeanor assault charge and a felony charge of filing a false report. (After arresting cyclist Christopher Long that night, Pogan accused Long of attempting assault, resisting arrest, and disorderly conduct, contending that Long rode his bike straight into him, knocking them both down. Those charges against Long were later dropped.)

Two female NYPD cops accused of brutally beating a man during a road rage incident in August were indicted today by a Bronx grand jury. You'll recall the charges stem from an altercation between officers Michelle Anglin and Kollen Robinson—who were off-duty at the time—and Marlon Smith, who mouthed off to the pair after they yelled at him to shut his car door so they could pass by in Robinson's SUV. F-bombs ensued, followed by a pistol-whipping. When Smith tried to shut his door to drive away, Anglin allegedly blasted him with pepper spray, yelling, "Do you know who you are f------ with? We are the police!" And it emerged today that they're also accused of beating a witness with a baton when he tried to break up the fight. The cops face up to 15 years in prison if convicted of the more serious assault charge.

Surprising no one, the cyclist who was captured on videotape being violently slammed off his bike by a rookie cop during a July Critical Mass ride plans to sue the city. In his first interview, Christopher Long also tells Chelsea Now that after Officer Patrick Pogan knocked him to the curb, he stood over Long and asked, "Do you wanna try that again?" Long also says he thinks Pogan "is going to be a scapegoat in this situation because he was in the wrong place at the wrong time...I think that the department really helped him do what he did, because he felt safe to act that way. He felt entitled to act that way. That’s the department, culturally. The department set him up for failure. He committed a crime, he assaulted me. He didn’t do that by himself." Long spent 27 hours in the Tombs after his arrest and was charged with attempted assault, resisting arrest and disorderly conduct. The D.A. finally dropped the charges earlier this month; Pogan is still under investigation.

On July 30th, NYPD commissioner Ray Kelly promised that New Yorkers would be able to send video and text straight to police in a “relatively short period of time.” And he actually delivered! The image software, which cost about $250,000, also serves the city's 311 non-emergency hot line, so don't hesitate to gather cell phone video of potholes and graffiti. According to WABC, New York is the first American city with the capability to accept images. 911 callers who have cell phone video or photos of a crime are instructed to inform the operator, and a detective with the NYPD's cool-sounding Real Time Crime Center will call back to receive the images. The evidence can also be submitted anonymously (details here), and by next year photos sent in by bystanders will be transmitted to patrol cars in the area.

UPDATE: As expected, the Manhattan District Attorney has dropped all charges against Christopher Long, per this press release from Times Up.

35-year-old Marlon Smith, who was allegedly beaten, pistol whipped and maced by two off-duty female cops during a road rage incident in the Bronx on August 15th, says he's suing the city for $25 million. According to a witness, the altercation was sparked when Kollen Robinson, 24, and Michelle Anglin, 37, yelled at Smith to close his car door so they could pass by in Robinson's SUV. An exchange of insults quickly became physical, with Robinson reportedly punching Smith while asking, "Do you know who you are f----ing with? We are the police."

Today's allegation of police brutality comes from 20-year-old demolition worker Raphael Jefferson, who's planning to sue the city after police allegedly "slammed him down on a car hood, repeatedly struck him with a baton and Maced his eyes" while he was handcuffed on a Bronx street on June 20th.

Two female NYPD cops did some serious damage to a Bronx man early Friday night, allegedly pistol whipping him during a road rage incident. Michelle Anglin, 37, and Koleen Robinson, 24, were off-duty when they became enraged at 35-year-old Marlon Smith for leaving the driver’s door of his Suburban open, almost scraping Robinson's SUV, the Daily News reports. F bombs and A bombs were promptly fired at Smith by the cops. When he responded with his own profanity, the policewomen approached his vehicle and Anglin allegedly blasted him with pepper spray.

Twelve city council members are calling on Manhattan District Attorney Robert M Morgenthau to drop the charges against Christopher Long, the cyclist who was seen being bodyslammed to the curb by a rookie cop in a videotape of a Critical Mass ride on July 25th. The council members – who include Rosie Mendez, Letitia James, and Alan Gerson but not mayoral hopeful Christine Quinn – are also demanding that Morgenthau open a wider investigation into NYPD policies toward cyclists, specifically during Critical Mass rides. (Full letter after the jump.)

NYPD commissioner Ray Kelly told reporters yesterday that in a “relatively short period of time” people will be able to send “video and text straight to 911 to increase the flow of information.” Kelly didn’t go into details about how the technology would work, but he did say that “generally speaking, it’s helpful when people record an event taking place that helps us during an investigation.”

Environmental group Times Up! is taking advantage of all the publicity generated by the video of a cop shoving a cyclist off his bike by reminding everyone that this is hardly the first such incident, nor the only one caught on video. The group points out that in 2007 one Richard Vazquez was taken down by a cop in Times Square during a Critical Mass ride, and in 2006 Adrienne Wheeler, a Critical Mass legal observer, was pulled off her bike by then-NYPD-Assistant-Chief Bruce Smolka, who's since retired. (The city settled with Wheeler for $37,000.) In a statement, Times Up! asserts that, “Unfortunately the July 25, 2008 incident is part of a pattern of targeting Critical Mass bike riders.” What's also unfortunate is that the production values on these old videos fail to live up to the new gold standard for police brutality porn.

That video depicting a rookie cop bodyslamming a cyclist to the curb in Times Square? Just routine policework, according to the president of the police union.

The cyclist who was videotaped being body slammed off his bike in an apparently unprovoked attack by an NYPD officer during Friday night’s Critical Mass ride has been identified as Christopher Long, a 29-year-old resident of Bloomfield, New Jersey who works at the Union Square Greenmarket. His boss tells the Daily News that Long is an Army veteran and "mild-mannered environmental activist." Craig Radhuber, 54, was riding behind Long Friday night and describes incident: “All of a sudden the cop picked this kid out and bodychecked him. I couldn't believe what was going on. [The officer] body-slammed this kid off the bicycle so hard that he went from the lane to the curb.”

Another Critical Mass ride, another stunning display of police brutality. Watch as one of New York's finest violently shoves a cyclist off his bicycle, launching him through the air to the curb at 46th street and Seventh Avenue during Friday night's monthly Critical Mass ride.