Original: http://www.theagitator.com/2009/12/01/federal-judge-says-nypd-plagued-by-widespread-falsification-by-arresting-officers/
In refusing to dismiss a lawsuit against New York City brought
by two brothers arrested on trumped-up drug charges, Brooklyn
Federal Judge Jack Weinstein had some harsh words for the city's
police department. From the NY Daily News:
"Informal inquiry by [myself] and among the judges of
this court, as well as knowledge of cases in other federal and
state courts has revealed anecdotal evidence of repeated, widespread
falsification by arresting officers of the New York City Police
Department," Weinstein wrote.
He said that while the vast majority of cops don't engage
in crooked practices, it was common enough to be an institutional
problem.
The judge said that despite better training for recruits and
tough disciplinary action for bad cops, "there is some evidence
of an attitude among officers that is sufficiently widespread
to constitute a custom or policy by the city approving illegal
conduct."
Maximo and Jose Colon were arrested and jailed last January
for participating in a drug deal with undercover officers at
a Brooklyn bar.
They were released -- and the officers who arrested them were
later indicted -- when surveillance video showed the arresting
officers fabricated the entire drug deal.
From an AP story on the case last June:
Jose quickly got the tape to defense attorney Rochelle Berliner,
a former narcotics prosecutor. She couldn't believe what she
was seeing.
"I almost threw up," she said. "Because I must've
prosecuted 1,500, 2,000 drug cases and all felonies. And I think
back, Oh my God, I believed everything everyone told me. Maybe
a handful of times did something not sound right to me. I don't
mean to sound overly dramatic but I was like, sick."
What the tape doesn't show is striking:
At no point did the brothers interact with the undercover
officers, nor did the brothers appear to be involved in a drug
deal with anyone else.
Adding insult to injury, an outside camera taped the undercover
officers literally dancing down the street.
If it weren't the tape, the Colons would probably still be
in prison.
The Colons' lawsuit argues the incident is one of many, brought
about in part by arrest quotas imposed on officers by the NYPD.
Also visit our "Prison
and Police Abuse" section.
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