Friday, October 24, 2008

NYPD Officers Accused of Sodomizing Man

A 24-year-old Brooklyn man has accused NYPD officers of sodomizing him with a police radio in the Prospect Park subway station.

Lawyers for Michael Mineo said he suffered serious injuries from the attack, which they said took place in a subway station atProspect Park on Oct. 15.

NYPD spokesman Paul Browne said witness statements contradict Mineo's account. Browne declined to comment on the alleged injury to Mineo until police review a doctor's record of the incident.

"We have found two civilian witnesses who didn't support the sodomy allegations," the spokesman said.

The allegations echo those of a case that shook the city in 1997, when Abner Louima was sodomized with a broken broomstick in a Brooklyn station house by a 25-year-old officer.

An additional accusation by Mineo that officers Tasered him is also not supported, Browne said, since the officers in question do not carry Tasers.

The department's internal affairs bureau and the Brooklyn district attorney's office have launched investigations into the complaint, police said.

Stephen Jackson, Mineo's lawyer, said his client stayed five days at Brookdale University Hospital and Medical Center in Brooklyn. Brookdale Hospital officials confirmed that Mineo was admitted on Oct. 15 and discharged four days later.

According to police, officers from the 71st Precinct spotted Mineo smoking a marijuana joint outside theProspect Park station around 12:30 p.m. When they moved in to arrest him, police said, Mineo dashed into the station, leading officers on a chase. Police said Mineo resisted being handcuffed, telling officers he "ate the marijuana."

The officers issued Mineo a desk appearance ticket, Browne said, adding that four officers were involved in the incident with a fifth officer from the transit bureau also at the scene. Jackson said four or five officers pinned Mineo to the ground. "One of them put his knee on his neck, and another one used his radio ... repeatedly" sodomizing Mineo, Jackson said.

No comments: