Two policemen executed for Brown/Garner

[I.Can't.Breathe]

New York Police Officer Assaults Judge While Other Officers Watch; DA Declines to Prosecute for "Lack of Evidence"

Judge Thomas Raffaele's Alleged NYPD Attacker Won't Face Criminal Charges
Posted: 08/22/2012 5:14 pm EDT Updated: 08/22/2012 5:19 pm EDT

No criminal charges will be filed against an NYPD officer accused of violently striking a New York state Supreme Court justice in the throat in an unprovoked attack earlier this summer, the Queens district attorney said Wednesday.

Judge Thomas Raffaele, who reported the alleged assault, called the DA's decision "shocking" and accused the NYPD officers involved of lying to cover up their misconduct.

"For this to happen, for me to be attacked by a cop -- and for the cops to do this huge cover up -- it's really changing my view of the force," Raffaele told The Huffington Post.

Raffaele said he is strongly considering filing a lawsuit against the police department over the alleged attack. "It may be that there is no other option," he said.

In a statement, Queens District Attorney Richard Brown said his office lacked the evidence to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the officer "intentionally and unjustifiably" struck the judge.

"We find that there is insufficient evidence of criminality to support a charge that the police officer acted with intent to injure," Brown said.

The alleged assault on the judge happened as police officers were restraining a man who was reportedly chasing people with a metal pipe on a Queens street around midnight in early June.

Raffaele said he came upon two officers restraining the man and called 911 to request that more police respond to the scene, where a large group of people was gathering. The officer allegedly repeatedly drove his knee into the detained man's back, the judge said, causing some in the crowd to shout at him.

At that point, Raffaele said the officer flew into a rage, began screaming obscenities and randomly attacked several people in the crowd. He said he was hit in the throat with a military-style open hand chop that sent him to the hospital for the night.

"This was not some little punch or shove," he said. "It was an all-out military blow to my larynx."

Raffaele said that supervisory officers at the scene refused to take his complaint of being assaulted.

In June, the NYPD said that its internal affairs bureau was working with the Queens DA's office to investigate the judge's claims.

That investigation cleared the officers involved in the episode of criminal conduct.

"After an extensive and thorough investigation of the facts and circumstances of the matter -– that included multiple witness interviews and reviews of police reports and medical records -– my office has concluded that the facts do not warrant the filing of criminal charges," Brown said.

The matter will now be referred to the city's Civilian Complaint Review Board and to the NYPD "for any possible violation" of NYPD rules or procedures.

Brown said that his office had "no opinion" as to whether any administrative or procedural violations took place.

Raffaele criticized the DA's investigation as half-hearted and said that witnesses to the incident were not interviewed for nearly two months, and only after he complained about the slow progress of the probe.

He also accused several NYPD officers of lying about the events by saying that he had behaved "aggressively" toward them.

"I was really amazed that two or three of them lied about it," he said. "It's really damaging to the respect that I've had all my life for the police department."

[I.Can't.Breathe]

Off-Duty and "Undercover" Police Officers Involved in Motorcycle Gang Attack on Family; Driver Brutally Beaten as Officers Watch

Prosecutor: Off-duty officer 'terrorized' family as SUV driver was beaten
By Susan Candiotti. Vivienne Foley and Greg Botelho, CNN
updated 6:36 AM EDT, Thu October 10, 2013

Officer arrested in motorcycle-SUV clash
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
NEW: 2 arraigned bikers will testify before grand jury Friday, their lawyers say
Prosecutor says New York detective was "an active participant" in incident

The officer's lawyer says his client never got within 12 feet of the victim
7 motorcyclists face charges in the case, including 1 arrested Wednesday, police say

New York (CNN) -- Did a New York undercover detective join fellow motorcyclists in chasing and catching an SUV driver, then terrorize his family as he was dragged from the vehicle and beaten?

That's what a prosecutor argued Wednesday, when Wojciech Braszczok was charged with first-degree gang assault and first-degree assault -- both felonies -- and third-degree criminal mischief in connection with a September 29 incident on Manhattan's Upper West Side.

"(What happened) can only be described as a brutal and brazen attack on the driver and his family, in which the defendant is an active participant," Assistant District Attorney Samantha Turino said in court.

Saying much of what transpired is captured on video, Turino put Braszczok, who was off-duty and riding with his motorcycle club at the time, among what she called a "mob of motorcyclists" who pursued Alexian Lien, dragged him from his Range Rover, then "stomped on, kicked and hit (him) with helmets until he appeared to lose consciousness."

The 32-year-old Braszczok got off his bike after Lien, after being hemmed in by motorcyclists, ran over a few of them trying to escape, Turino said. He then joined bikers who chased Lien off the West Side Highway and onto 178th Street, where Lien stopped for good.

As the SUV driver was being beaten, the prosecutor said, Braszczok "terrorize(d) the rest of the driver's family on the other side of the vehicle," including shattering the rear window and kicking in the passenger side rear door.

"It should be noted that the 2-year-old child of (Lien) was in the backseat at the time the defendant was committing these violent acts," said Turino.

Braszczok's lawyer, John Arlia, firmly denied his client did anything wrong, saying his decision to go after someone who had run over motorcyclists doesn't constitute a crime.

Arlia questioned whether it was the 10-year New York police veteran who broke the SUV's window, saying it was already broken. The attorney also said that his client, a father of two who appeared in court wearing a black hooded sweatshirt and camouflage shorts, never got within 12 feet of the victim, much less hit him. Arlia said video from the scene shows as much.

"It's an absolute overcharge," Arlia said of the prosecution's case, saying that most of the motorcyclists didn't know each other. "... He is in no way near (Lien) and doesn't join the others. ... They can't prove it."

After both sides presented their cases, a judge set Braszczok's bail at $150,000 bond or $100,000 cash. He later posted bond and was released, according to his lawyer.

Braszczok's arraignment was not unexpected, as police indicated Tuesday he had been arrested. But the charges detailed then were less serious than those announced Wednesday.

Arlia told reporters that Braszczok is an undercover detective who has infiltrated various criminal organizations during his time in the New York Police Department, adding that he didn't have a criminal record.

He was one of at least two off-duty undercover officers who were riding with fellow bikers that day, a law enforcement official told CNN. Authorities have no information that the other officer, who was riding with Braszczok, played an active role in the incident, according to a law enforcement official.

Braszczok allegedly didn't inform supervisors that he was among the large group of bikers until two days after the incident. At that time, the prosecutor said, Braszczok denied being at the site of the confrontation. He changed his story, but denied participating in the beating, the next day, the prosecutor said.

The undercover police officer wasn't the only motorcyclist tied up in the case Wednesday.

Clint Caldwell, a 32-year-old biker from Brooklyn, was also arraigned on first-degree gang assault and first-degree assault charges.

During Braszczok's hearing, Turino said that -- when the Range Rover was halted on 178th Street, after motorcyclists cut off traffic -- Caldwell "charges the (broken) driver's side window ... and appears to strike (Lien) at least two times."

Speaking after his client's arraignment, lawyer Raymond L. Colon said video will show Caldwell opening the door of Lien's Range Rover, but not assaulting him.

"He asks him to pull over, shut the engine -- (Lien) just struck a couple of motorcyclists," Colon told reporters. "And that's all he did. There's no contact. You'll clearly see from the video he doesn't reach into the window. There is another individual standing next to him that does."

As with Braszczok, Judge Tamiko Amaker set Caldwell's bail at $150,000 bond or $100,000 cash.

Police said another person also was arrested Wednesday in connection with the case.

James Kuehne, a 31-year-old Brooklyn resident, faces charges of gang assault, criminal mischief and criminal possession of a weapon, according to police.
Confrontation between bikers, SUV driver in Manhattan

The incident was sure to get attention, taking place on one of the busiest roads in one of America's busiest cities. But the story caught on even more after video of the episode -- captured when motorcyclist Kevin Bresloff turned on his helmet camera after seeing a water bottle thrown from the SUV's sunroof toward the bikers, his attorney Andrew Vecere said -- went viral.

According to Turino, motorcyclists heading north on Manhattan's West Side Highway "were driving recklessly, ... obstructing vehicle traffic, running red lights, swerving between lanes" when one of them -- later identified as
Christopher Cruz -- quickly slowed down in front of Lien. Lien's vehicle then bumped Cruz's rear tire, slightly injuring him.

The Range Rover then pulled to a stop, at which point angry bikers surrounded his vehicle, hit it and spiked its tires, police said.

Lien's vehicle then began moving again -- plowing into three more bikers, including Edwin Mieses, whose wife, Dayana Mieses, said earlier this week has been told there's a 1% chance he'll never walk again.

As it moved away, the SUV was chased by motorcyclists, who caught up with it near the George Washington Bridge. Several bikers dismounted and approached the vehicle, with one of them opening its door, before Lien then drove away again.

Motorcyclists continued their pursuit, with some speeding ahead of him to help halt traffic. That's where the ordeal ended -- with Lien getting dragged out, kicked and hit. He suffered cuts to each eye, his right cheek, the left side of his body, and his lip, in addition to a pair of black eyes and abrasions to his hand, back and shoulder, according to Turino.

His wife and 2-year-old daughter were unharmed.
7 motorcyclists facing charges
Including Braszczok, Caldwell and Kuehne, seven people -- all motorcyclists -- have been or will be charged in the case, police said. Authorities, who have appealed for the public's help in identifying people in some photos, haven't ruled out more arrests or charges.

"In the last few days, serious charges have been brought against several defendants in last Sunday's attack," Erin Duggan, a spokeswoman for the Manhattan District Attorney's Office, said Wednesday. "As we said from the beginning of the investigation, the NYPD and the District Attorney's Office are methodically scrutinizing the evidence to build the strongest possible cases in our continuing effort to hold accountable those responsible."

The other motorcyclists are:
• Christopher Cruz, 28, who police say is the biker who slowed in front of Lien, was charged with reckless driving and other misdemeanors. He has been released on bond.

His lawyer, H. Benjamin Perez, said, "He never tried to assault him in any way. And he does not know any of the other motorcyclists who were involved in this beating."

• Robert Sims, 35, is accused of stomping on Lien. He surrendered Friday on charges of attempted assault and gang assault.
• Reginald Chance, 37, who was captured on video smashing his helmet into the SUV's window, has been charged with first-degree assault and gang assault. He was ordered held on $75,000 bond on Sunday.

Turino said Chance's license had been suspended and he should not have been driving. She said his arrest record includes a marijuana charge in 2013 and attempted criminal possession of a weapon in 2006.

"The law does permit someone who is a victim of an accident to at least attempt to get the identification of the motorist," said Chance's attorney, Gregory Watts. "My client obviously overreacted in that manner, but he is not this thug assaulting someone who's harmless, contrary to the public opinion that's being put out there."

He said Chance was knocked off his motorcycle by Lien's SUV after bikers had surrounded the vehicle earlier.

• Craig Wright, 29, was arraigned Tuesday on gang assault and other charges and then ordered held on $150,000 bond. Wright is accused of stomping Lien at least twice after police say he and other motorcyclists forced the man's Range Rover to a stop, used their helmets to break out the window and dragged him out of the car.

According to court documents, police say Wright, 29, identified himself in a picture showing him standing near the stopped SUV. Another photograph shows him stomping Lien as the man lies on the ground, according to the documents.

Wright is charged with first-degree gang assault, first-degree assault and first-degree unlawful imprisonment. He was arrested at his home in Brooklyn.

In March, Wright pleaded guilty to driving with a suspended license, a spokesman for the Brooklyn district attorney said. It is unclear whether he was driving with a suspended license at the time of the SUV incident. He was also convicted in Virginia in 2005 for reckless driving.

Judge Amaker set Wright's next court date for Friday.

That's the same day the prosecution will present its case to a grand jury. Both Braszczok and Caldwell's lawyers, at the least, said their clients intend to testify then.

Defenders of the bikers, including relatives of Mieses, the critically injured biker, have criticized Lien for driving through the crowd of motorcycles.

Vecere, Bresloff's attorney, says his client hasn't been charged with a crime, and he doesn't expect him to be. He said police issued a warrant for the video, but Bresloff was going to turn it over anyway. He is cooperating with police, Vecere said.

"He was shocked" by what happened, the attorney said, adding that the case is "not black and white."

[I.Can't.Breathe]

NYPD Rookie Cop Shoots Unarmed, Innocent Public Housing Resident; Cop Texts Union Rep Instead of Calling for Emergency Medical Services as Victim Dies

EXCLUSIVE: Rookie NYPD officer who shot Akai Gurley in Brooklyn stairwell was texting union rep as victim lay dying

In the six and a half minutes after Peter Liang discharged a single bullet that struck Gurley, 28, he and his partner couldn't be reached, sources told the Daily News. And instead of calling for help for the dying man, Liang was texting his union representative. What's more, the sources said, the pair of officers weren't supposed to be patrolling the stairways of the Pink Houses that night.

BY ROCCO PARASCANDOLA , OREN YANIV NEW YORK DAILY NEWS Friday, December 5, 2014, 2:30 AM

While Akai Gurley was dying in a darkened stairwell at a Brooklyn housing development, the cop who fired the fatal bullet was texting his union representative, sources told the Daily News.

Right after rookie cop Peter Liang discharged a single bullet that struck Gurley, 28, he and his partner Shaun Landau were incommunicado for more than six and a half minutes, sources said Thursday.

In the critical moments after the Nov. 20 shooting, the cops’ commanding officer and an emergency operator — responding to a 911 call from a neighbor and knowing the duo was in the area — tried to reach them in vain, sources said.

“That’s showing negligence,” said a law enforcement source of the pair’s decision to text their union rep before making a radio call for help.

“The guy is dying and you still haven’t called it in?”

To make things even worse, the officers were uncertain of the exact address of the building in the Pink Houses they were in, according to their text messages, the sources said.

Blood is seen on the stairwell the day after the shooting. Sources say Liang texted his union representative instead of calling for help as Gurley lay dying.

The explosive details of the immediate aftermath following the shooting of Gurley are at the center of an investigation by Brooklyn District Attorney Kenneth Thompson — who is poised to present evidence to a grand jury as early as the end of this month.

The police shooting case is certain to command extra scrutiny after a Staten Island grand jury Wednesday declined to indict NYPD Officer Daniel Pantaleo for the chokehold death of Eric Garner.

The two cops involved weren't supposed to be patrolling the Pink Houses' stairways that night, sources say.

Adding to the tragedy surrounding Gurley’s death, the officers involved were not supposed to be doing a patrol in the stairways, the sources said.

Deputy Inspector Miguel Iglesias, then the head officer of the local housing command, ordered them not to carry out such patrols, known as verticals.

He opted instead for exterior policing in response to a spate of violence at the East New York housing project.

“They’ve done verticals before,” a police source said of the two officers.

“But Iglesias’ philosophy was, ‘I want a presence on the street, in the courtyards — and if they go into the buildings they were just supposed to check out the lobby.”

Another source said the commander was furious after the shooting, raging, “I told them not to do verticals.”

Brooklyn District Attorney Kenneth Thompson is investigating.

Police Commissioner Bill Bratton characterized the incident as an “unfortunate tragedy” and an accident. Officials said Liang was holding a flashlight in his right hand and a Glock 9-mm. in the other when he opened the door to the eighth-floor landing.

One bullet flew out and apparently ricocheted into the chest of Gurley, who was on the seventh-floor landing and taking the stairs with his girlfriend Melissa Butler, 27.

The victim stumbled down to the fifth floor and Butler knocked on a woman’s door on the fourth floor, pleading for help. That woman called 911, a source said.

The building's superintendent had reportedly asked NYCHA to fix the lights months earlier.

When Liang and Landau finally resurfaced on the radio, they reported an accidental discharge, added the source. Authorities have said they didn’t immediately know anyone was struck with the bullet.

The stairwell was pitch-black because the lights were out. The superintendent had asked NYCHA to fix the lights months before the fatal encounter. The problem was finally resolved hours after Gurley died.

While the shooting may have been a mishap, the cops’ subsequent conduct can amount to criminal liability, court insiders said.

The officers were supposed to be policing the exterior of the East New York development, says a police source.

“I would be surprised if it is not at least presented to a grand jury,” said Kenneth Montgomery, a lawyer for Gurley’s parents. “It’s a debacle and it speaks of criminal negligence.”

DA Thompson had called the shooting “deeply troubling” and promised “an immediate, fair and thorough investigation.”

A spokeswoman for his office had no comment Thursday. The NYPD also declined comment.

Gurley’s mother, Sylvia Parker, and stepfather, Kenneth Palmer, are scheduled to make their first public statements Friday morning, ahead of their son’s wake.

Gurley will be laid to rest Saturday.

[I.Can't.Breathe]

High-Ranking Police Inspector Pepper Sprays Women Protesters Seated On Sidewalk; Faces No Criminal Charges, "Penalized" 10 Vacation Days

Officer’s Pepper-Spraying of Protesters Is Under Investigation
By Al Baker and Joseph Goldstein
September 28, 2011 1:37 pm September 28, 2011 1:37 pm

Updated 8:44 p.m. | The police and Manhattan prosecutors are separately examining a high-ranking officer’s use of pepper spray on a number of female protesters at a demonstration on Saturday.
Update
Second Pepper Spray Video

A second video has emerged showing the use of pepper spray on protesters.

Go to Second Video »

Raymond W. Kelly, commissioner of the New York Police Department, said Wednesday that its Internal Affairs Bureau would look at the decision by the officer, Deputy Inspector Anthony Bologna, to use pepper spray, even as Mr. Kelly criticized the protesters for “tumultuous conduct.”

At the same time, the office of the Manhattan district attorney, Cyrus R. Vance Jr., has opened an investigation into the episode, which was captured on video and disseminated on the Internet, according to a person briefed on the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the inquiry is continuing.

Inspector Bologna was identified on Wednesday in another video spraying others in the Occupy Wall Street demonstration with pepper spray. Recordings of the episodes show Inspector Bologna striding through a chaotic street scene along East 12th Street, where officers arrested some protesters and corralled others behind orange mesh netting.

Deputy Inspector Roy T. Richter, the head of the Captains Endowment Association, the union that represents the upper echelons of city officers, said Inspector Bologna, who formerly led the 1st Precinct and now works in counterterrorism, would “cooperate with whatever investigative body the police commissioner designates to perform this review.”

Inspector Richter continued: “Deputy Inspector Bologna’s actions that day were motivated by his concern for the safety of officers under his command and the safety of the public. The limited use of pepper spray effectively restored order without any escalation of force or serious injury to either demonstrator or police officer.”

While officers consider the use of pepper spray relatively low on the so-called continuum of force available to them, the videos, made by several protesters at different vantage points, have prompted a level of criticism of the police rarely seen outside of fatal police shootings of unarmed people. The independent city agency that investigates accusations of police abuse said that about 400 people had complained, many from out of state.

On Wednesday, in his first public comments on the matter, Mr. Kelly questioned whether the video offered enough context to evaluate the inspector’s actions.

Mr. Kelly said he did not know what precipitated the action, but seemed to offer a justification for it. He said the group was disorderly and “intent on blocking traffic” as it marched on University Place, returning to the financial district, where protesters have camped for more than a week.

While the department’s Patrol Guide says pepper spray should be used primarily to arrest a suspect who is resisting, or for protection, it does allow for its use in “disorder control” by officers with special training.

Asked about Inspector Bologna’s actions, Erin M. Duggan, the communication director for Mr. Vance’s office, said, “The district attorney’s office takes all allegations of police misconduct seriously.” She said the arrests made at the protest on Saturday, which the police have said numbered around 80, were “being reviewed under the standard procedure.”

In one video, Inspector Bologna walks up to a group of women standing on the sidewalk behind some orange netting, squirts pepper spray at them and walks away. In interviews, two of those women said that they had received no warning before being sprayed and that its use was unprovoked.

A law enforcement official familiar with Inspector Bologna’s account of what occurred, however, said he was not aiming at the four women who appeared in videos to have sustained the brunt of the spray. Rather, he was trying to spray some men who he believed were pushing up against officers and causing a confrontation that put officers at risk of injury, the official said.

“The intention was to place them under arrest, but they fled,” the official said.

In the second video posted on the Daily Kos political blog, showing a scene that apparently occurred just seconds later, Andrew Hinderaker, 23, a photographer, can be seen with a press card around his neck in the path of a mist of spray.

In an interview, Mr. Hinderaker said he had been on East 12th Street and saw officers drag a woman from behind a net and throw her on the ground. He stepped forward and photographed the scene, then started walking on a sidewalk toward University Place.

“I felt something wet on my hand and my face,” he said, adding that he was not sure who had sprayed him. Moments later, he said, “it started to burn.”

Afterward, Mr. Hinderaker said, he crossed paths with Inspector Bologna, who told him, “You better get out of here,” and added that he could be arrested.