The Bronx DA's office previously announced that the police officers who beat 19-year-old Bronx resident Jateik Reed in January weren't being investigated for committing a crime, despite the fact that authorities dropped the drug-related charges against Reed. That may change now that NY1 has obtained a surveillance tape that shows that police likely did not have reasonable suspicion to stop Reed, contradicting sworn police statements that Reed had bags of drugs that he threw on the ground. more ›

Civil rights attorney Ron Kuby fired off a letter to U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara on Monday asking his office to pursue charges against NYPD officers who used excessive force against Occupy Wall Street protesters last fall. "The DA's Official Corruption Unit, which is responsible for this investigation, seems more interested in pursuing hypothetical police officers with possible ties to prostitutes than with prosecuting actual police deputy inspectors for brutality," Kuby writes. more ›

The Civilian Complaint Review Board [CCRB] has been given the power to prosecute NYPD officers suspected of wrongdoing, according to an agreement reached by the City Council, the Mayor, and the NYPD Commissioner. The change has been described as a "milestone in the history of civilian police oversight in New York City," in the words of Daniel D. Chu, the president of the board, which receives thousands of complaints against police officers every year. more ›

Last week Time's Up! had their annual Ides (Pies) of March Ride, in which the environmental activist group uses clownish theatrics to protest issues such as police brutality and blocked bike lanes. This year the ride was renamed the "OCCU-Pies of March" ride, and had a special emphasis on Manhattan's banks, with cyclist-activists riding bike-powered police cars and limos to local financial institutions. Here's video of the extremely goofy street theater, which culminated in a pie fight at Astor Place: more ›

The Bronx District Attorney has dropped charges against 19-year-old Jateik Reed, who was seen on video (below) being beaten by police during an arrest in January. Reed faced seven charges, including two assault charges, three drug possession charges, and a harassment charge. All were dismissed this morning, and one of Reed's attorneys, Gideon Orion Oliver, issued a press release today announcing that the DA's office said it had investigated the case and that it could not prove any of the charges beyond a reasonable doubt. However, the status of the D.A.'s investigation into the officers remains unclear. more ›

Lawyers representing the Bronx teen who was seen being beaten by cops in a widely circulated video are demanding a special investigator take over the probe. more ›

The court-appointed attorney for alleged cop shooter Luis "Baby" Ortiz said his client was beaten while he was in police custody. At Ortiz's arraignment yesterday, lawyer Eric Poulos surprised no one by accusing cops of roughing up his client after he was arrested, bruising his face and chipping a tooth. “He was struck by police officers’ fists, both at the scene and at the station house hours after,” Poulos told the judge yesterday. Considering all the other horrible things that can happen to a perp while in police custody, it sounds like the alleged cop shooter got off easy. more ›

A transgender woman has filed a lawsuit against the city and several police officers who allegedly humiliated her and chained her to a wall inside the station house for 28 hours after she was arrested in the subway. According to the lawsuit, which you can read in full below, Temmie Breslauer was arrested by an undercover cop last month for illegally using her father’s discount fare card at the 125th Street subway station. Breslauer, whose legal name is Todd, is a transgender person undergoing hormone replacement therapy and intends to undergo genital reassignment surgery. She alleges that police "targeted" her because of her appearance, and then prolonged her booking so they could torment her. more ›

Bronx resident Javin James was one of several witnesses to an NYPD beatdown caught on video last week, and he says that after he yelled at police to stop, they came after him. James claims he was in his apartment when he saw police beating and kicking 19-year-old Jatiek Reed on Thursday. He went out onto his fire escape and yelled at police to stop because, as he tells NY1, he wanted Reed "to know you are not alone with what is going on there." But after Reed was handcuffed, James says cops came up to his apartment, kicked his door in, and threatened him. more ›

The Bronx D.A. and NYPD Internal Affairs are investigating officers caught on video beating a Bronx teenager during a drug arrest on Thursday. NY1 is first with the story, and reports that Jatiek Reed, 19, was arrested last week on charges of robbery, possession of marijuana and crack cocaine and assaulting a police officer. This video shows part of the arrest, with police beating Reed with batons and kicking him as he lies on his side on the sidewalk: more ›

Parents for Occupy Wall Street has organized a Rally Against NYPD Bullies today from Union Square to Foley Square then on to City Hall. According to the group's website, from 11 a.m. to noon in Union Square, " A children's GA and open-mic will take place where children and students of all ages can voice their concerns about problems within their communities," along with "an arts and crafts session…to help make Anti-Bullying signs and paper hearts." If you thought the human mic was a mess before, wait until a few toddlers get started on how crappy Pedialyte tastes. more ›

NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly paid a visit today to the SIPA class that David Dinkins currently teaches at Columbia University, and Bwog reports that Kelly was thoroughly heckled (by an NYU saboteur!). But don't worry, the Commish thinks those protesters are just adorable. more ›

NYC-based Egyptian-American journalist Mona Eltahawy is recovering from a brutal assault at the hands of paramilitary riot police while she was covering demonstrations near Tahrir Square in Cairo on Wednesday night. She says riot police broke her arm and hand and sexually assaulted her during her unexplained arrest. Eltahawy lost her phone while being beaten, but was later able to use an activist's phone to describe her ordeal in a series of dramatic updates on Twitter: more ›

252 protesters were arrested yesterday during the daylong Occupy Wall Street demonstrations, an NYPD spokesman tells us. Five protesters were charged with felony assault, and there were at least a dozen reported injuries sustained by police and protesters. One officer policing Zuccotti Park in the afternoon was struck in the eye by an "unknown object," while another got a "nasty, nasty" cut to his left thumb after an unidentified person threw a "star-shaped glass object" at him, according to the Wall Street Journal. Mayor Bloomberg visited the officer at Bellevue, and then held a press conference to chastise the demonstrators. more ›

Flanked by nearly a dozen other council members and his attorneys, City Councilmember Ydanis Rodriguez addressed a crowd atop the steps of City Hall this afternoon to share the details of his "improper arrest" during Occupy Wall Street's eviction from Zuccotti Park. "I have no problem participating in civil disobedience," said the councilman, "But this didn't have to happen to me and the nine reporters who were arrested. This was not an act of civil disobedience. My wife didn't want me to go and told me not to get arrested—we had a meeting at our daughter's school in the morning. I was not there trying to get arrested. I came to represent my community and to observe. It was my right and my obligation as a city official." more ›

Felix Rivera-Pitre, the protester who was punched by NYPD Deputy Inspector Johnny Cardona during a Occupy Wall Street march on October 14, met with the Manhattan DA's office yesterday. NYPD spokesman Paul Browne had claimed that Rivera-Pitre attempted to elbow Cardona, and that they intended to arrest him. more ›

NYPD officers—some of whom have been caught on video pepper spraying and beating Occupy Wall Street protesters, are getting fed up with all this senseless violence! And they've got a message you nogoodnik protesters who think you can injure their fists with your faces. Yesterday the five thousand member Sergeant’s Benevolent Association of the NYPD announced it will take legal action against Occupy Wall Street protesters who cause harm to any of its members. more ›

Felix Rivera-Pitre, the protester who was punched by NYPD Deputy Inspector Johnny Cardona during a violent clash between police and OWS protesters on October 13th has agreed to sit down with city prosecutors on Monday. NYPD spokesman Paul Browne previously claimed that Rivera-Pitre had tried to elbow Cardona, and added that the NYPD was seeking his arrest. "The DA's office…has informed me Felix will not be arrested until the DA's office completes its investigation and makes a decision as to whether to press charges," his attorney, Ron Kuby, told the Daily News. more ›

Tonight at 9 p.m. the Occupy Wall Street movement is sponsoring a Solidarity March with the protesters in Oakland, California, from Zuccotti Park down to City Hall. Last night, police in Oakland fired tear gas, rubber bullets, flash-bangs and bean bag projectiles at OccupyOakland protesters at around 7:45 p.m. Despite authorities claiming [pdf] that there were no injuries to protesters, many photos and videos dispute that notion. According to the Guardian, 24-year-old protester Scott Olson is in critical condition with a fractured skull and brain swelling after being hit by a police projectile. Olson is a veteran of the Iraq War. more ›

The actions of the NYPD officer seen punching protester Felix Rivera-Pitre in the face during last Friday's Occupy Wall Street protests are officially under investigation. According to the Guardian, the New York Civilian Complaint Review Board is looking into Deputy Inspector Johnny Cardona's use of force. "We have several ongoing investigations involving police interactions with protesters, said the CCRB's spokeswoman, Linda Sachs. Presumably included are the actions of Deputy Inspector Tony Bologna, who pepper-sprayed seemingly innocent women during protests on September 24. more ›

After the NYPD clashed with demonstrators at the Occupy Wall Street protests in Times Square Saturday night, an Iraq war vet named Sgt. Shamar Thomas gave the cops a piece of his mind. It seems Thomas, who served with 3rd Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion USMC in Iraq, didn't exactly dig the way the NYPD dealt with the crowd: more ›

A Staten Island man claims that NYPD officers in the Staten Island Gang Squad beat and sodomized him during a drug arrest earlier this year, then threatened his life if he ever came forward with the story. more ›

Ari Douglas, the legal observer whom the NYPD claims was "not trapped" under an NYPD scooter that hit him yesterday during an Occupy Wall Street march, has been released from Bellevue Hospital and was just arraigned at Manhattan Criminal Court. The NYPD's spokesman alleges that Douglas "purposefully put his legs under the scooter and then falsely claimed he was trapped," but Douglas's attorney, Yetta Kurland, tells us that allegation is baseless. "To suggest that a trained legal observer would find it prudent to throw himself under an incoming motor vehicle is absurd," Kurland told us. more ›

Yesterday we reported that a protester was struck in the face by a white-shirted NYPD supervisor during clashes between demonstrators and the police. While NYPD spokesman Paul Browne has refused to identify the officer who hit Felix Rivera-Pitre, eyewitnesses (as well as police sources informing the Daily News) identify him as Deputy Inspector Johnny Cardona. Cardona allegedly grabbed a woman by the throat shortly before Deputy Inspector Anthony Bologna discharged pepper spray on a corralled group of women in September. more ›

Yesterday, an observer for the National Lawyers Guild had a literal run-in with a NYPD cop on a scooter during an Occupy Wall Street morning march. Videos show Ari Douglas screaming after seemingly getting run over by a scooter, but there are varying opinions about what happened: Some say he was hit by the scooter while others (like the NYPD) say Douglas put his legs under the scooter and pretended he was hit. A reader Tweeted another video and said, "My video of legal observer Ari Douglas shows he did not try to get run over by NYPD." Take a look—it's a little hard to see, because it's shaky: more ›

Felix Rivera-Pitre, the protester who was filmed being punched in the face by a white-shirted NYPD officer, has reportedly retained civil rights attorney Ron Kuby in the face of accusations that he tried to assault the officer. NYPD spokesman Paul Browne claimed that Rivera-Pitre instigated the confrontation by attempting to elbow Deputy Inspector Johnny Cardona in the face, and authorities want to charge Rivera-Pitre with attempted assault on a police officer, obstructing governmental justice, resisting arrest and disorderly conduct. more ›

[UPDATES BELOW] Here is disturbing video of a legal observer for the National Lawyers Guild getting run over by an NYPD scooter during this morning's Occupy Wall Street march. We're still trying to determine how badly he was injured, but one witness speculated that he broke his leg. Attorney Gideon Oliver, a member of the National Lawyers Guild, confirms that the man seen in this harrowing video is in fact a legal observer for the NLG, and that he was arrested and then hospitalized. He's currently in police custody in the emergency room. We'll update more as it comes in, but for now, there's this: more ›

[UPDATE BELOW] During the chaotic Occupy Wall Street march through the financial district this morning, we witnessed a protester on William Street get punched in the face by a police officer, seemingly without provocation. He says the officer hit him so hard his earring got knocked out, but he managed to escape arrest. We caught up with the protester later: his name is Felix Rivera-Pitre, and he told us what happened and how he got away. more ›