Two police officers accused of assaulting a 14-year-old boy they suspected of making Halloween mischief and leaving him half-naked in a desolate Staten Island marsh pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct on Wednesday, prosecutors said.
The officers, Thomas Elliassen and Richard Danese, both 29, were indicted last March on 33 criminal counts, including 13 felonies, but reached a deal with prosecutors after the boy, Rayshawn Moreno of Staten Island, now 15, refused to testify in court, according to prosecutors.
The officers were sentenced in State Supreme Court on Staten Island to conditional discharge for one year, said Daniel M. Donovan Jr., the Staten Island district attorney, and will serve no time in jail. But the officers have been assigned to modified duty and are facing departmental charges, a police official said.
Officers Elliassen and Danese, who both live on Staten Island, were arrested on Nov. 2, 2007, and charged with unlawful imprisonment and endangering the welfare of a minor.
Prosecutors said the officers came across Rayshawn on a street corner on Halloween night a few days earlier, and, believing that he had been throwing eggs at passing cars, stopped the boy and placed him in their patrol car. He was driven to an isolated marshy area, where he was pulled from the police car and told to strip to his underwear and lie face down in the roadway, prosecutors said. The officers then kicked and struck him and abandoned him there, prosecutors said.
Lawyers for Rayshawn and his family had said the officers, who are white, had used a racial epithet while threatening the teenager, who is black.
Salvatore Strazzullo, Officer Danese’s lawyer, maintained his client’s innocence, calling the case a sham.
“Basically, the district attorney’s case fell apart,” Mr. Strazzullo said on Wednesday night. “The evidence just didn’t match up.”
Mr. Strazzullo said the officers arrested Rayshawn but changed their minds about taking him to the police station, and decided to take him home instead. But when they asked his name, age and address, he refused to tell them, Mr. Strazzullo said. He said that as soon as they let the boy out of the car he took off running.
“At the end of the day, the officers did Mr. Moreno a favor,” Mr. Strazzullo said.
In a related case, Officer Danese was charged in Brooklyn with unauthorized use of computerized police records in what was described as an attempt to find negative information about Rayshawn and his father.
Mr. Donovan said in a statement on Wednesday that Rayshawn’s story was credible.
“The victim’s account of the events leading to this prosecution remained consistent,” Mr. Donovan said. But as prosecutors began to prepare for trial, Rayshawn began refusing to cooperate, he said.
“While we were prepared to go forward, we believe we could not adequately present our case without the full cooperation of our victim,” Mr. Donovan said.
Other Information: http://www.silive.com/news/index.ssf/2009/01/das_statement_on_plea_deal_off.html
The officers, Thomas Elliassen and Richard Danese, both 29, were indicted last March on 33 criminal counts, including 13 felonies, but reached a deal with prosecutors after the boy, Rayshawn Moreno of Staten Island, now 15, refused to testify in court, according to prosecutors.
The officers were sentenced in State Supreme Court on Staten Island to conditional discharge for one year, said Daniel M. Donovan Jr., the Staten Island district attorney, and will serve no time in jail. But the officers have been assigned to modified duty and are facing departmental charges, a police official said.
Officers Elliassen and Danese, who both live on Staten Island, were arrested on Nov. 2, 2007, and charged with unlawful imprisonment and endangering the welfare of a minor.
Prosecutors said the officers came across Rayshawn on a street corner on Halloween night a few days earlier, and, believing that he had been throwing eggs at passing cars, stopped the boy and placed him in their patrol car. He was driven to an isolated marshy area, where he was pulled from the police car and told to strip to his underwear and lie face down in the roadway, prosecutors said. The officers then kicked and struck him and abandoned him there, prosecutors said.
Lawyers for Rayshawn and his family had said the officers, who are white, had used a racial epithet while threatening the teenager, who is black.
Salvatore Strazzullo, Officer Danese’s lawyer, maintained his client’s innocence, calling the case a sham.
“Basically, the district attorney’s case fell apart,” Mr. Strazzullo said on Wednesday night. “The evidence just didn’t match up.”
Mr. Strazzullo said the officers arrested Rayshawn but changed their minds about taking him to the police station, and decided to take him home instead. But when they asked his name, age and address, he refused to tell them, Mr. Strazzullo said. He said that as soon as they let the boy out of the car he took off running.
“At the end of the day, the officers did Mr. Moreno a favor,” Mr. Strazzullo said.
In a related case, Officer Danese was charged in Brooklyn with unauthorized use of computerized police records in what was described as an attempt to find negative information about Rayshawn and his father.
Mr. Donovan said in a statement on Wednesday that Rayshawn’s story was credible.
“The victim’s account of the events leading to this prosecution remained consistent,” Mr. Donovan said. But as prosecutors began to prepare for trial, Rayshawn began refusing to cooperate, he said.
“While we were prepared to go forward, we believe we could not adequately present our case without the full cooperation of our victim,” Mr. Donovan said.
Other Information: http://www.silive.com/news/index.ssf/2009/01/das_statement_on_plea_deal_off.html
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