URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v10/n060/a06.html
Source: New York Times (NY)
Author: Kareem Fahim
VIVID TESTIMONY IN TRIAL OF THREE OFFICERS ACCUSED IN SUBWAY STATION ASSAULT
In October 2008, from different vantage points, three members of the Dallas family watched the frenzied sequence of events that Michael Mineo says led to his abuse at the hands of police officers and that the officers say led to a mostly unexceptional arrest.
Andrea Dallas watched from her car parked on Flatbush Avenue in Brooklyn as police officers who had seen Mr. Mineo smoking a marijuana cigarette chased him into the Prospect Park subway station. Her son, James Avery Dallas, and her husband, also named James, saw the officers confront Mr. Mineo in the station.
On Thursday, as the case opened in State Supreme Court in Brooklyn, Ms. Dallas and her son testified that they had heard the same anguished expression of disbelief over and over again from Mr. Mineo: that an officer had "shoved a walkie-talkie" between his buttocks.
"He never stopped yelling," Ms. Dallas said. "That's the only thing I heard him say."
The Dallases' testimony provided the first witness accounts of the hazy, disputed events of Oct. 15, 2008, when prosecutors contend Officer Richard Kern repeatedly shoved his retractable baton between Mr. Mineo's buttocks. Two other officers, Alex Cruz and Andrew Morales, are charged with covering up the assault. The officers have been assigned to desk duty, with their guns and badges taken away.
In opening arguments, the lead prosecutor, Charles Guria, said the cover-up was proof of the crime, noting that after chasing Mr. Mineo and forcefully handcuffing him, officers let him walk away with a summons.
"All of a sudden, no one wants to arrest Michael Mineo," Mr. Guria said. "They want Michael Mineo to leave. The other officers were trying to make sure Michael Mineo did not go to a hospital, did not go to a police station.
"I don't care what kind of law Michael Mineo broke," he added, "there's no explanation, no excuse for what happened here."
Defense lawyers, meanwhile, wasted no time trying to tarnish the reputation of Mr. Mineo, calling him a scam artist, a poseur and a "packaged product."
John D. Patten, a lawyer representing Officer Kern, and the other lawyers said that Mr. Mineo was motivated by money, and mentioned his federal civil rights lawsuit against the city that seeks hundreds of millions of dollars in damages. They also mentioned his criminal record and tattoos.
"Is Mr. Mineo credible?" Mr. Patten asked. "The evidence will show that he is not."
The lawyers said that Mr. Mineo's medical record showed no sign of an attack. He might have suffered from a previous infection, they said, or might have injured himself during the arrest. The lawyers spent considerable time talking about Mr. Mineo's underwear, saying that the square hole in it could not have been made by a baton.
The defense seemed thrown by the appearance of Ms. Dallas, who was added to the witness list only last week, and they closely questioned her and her son.
Ms. Dallas, a teacher's assistant who lives in Bedford-Stuyvesant, testified that about 1:30 p.m., Mr. Mineo ran by her car with two officers in close pursuit. They all descended into the subway station.
Sometime later, Ms. Dallas said, Mr. Mineo, surrounded by three officers, emerged in handcuffs from the subway station and was led to a police car that was double-parked in front of Ms. Dallas's car. She cracked her window but tried to pretend she was not listening -- "I was eavesdropping," she said.
Mr. Mineo, she said, told an officer that he had been treated like "some kind of a faggot."
Defense lawyers tried to elicit inconsistencies, and at one point, Ms. Dallas mistook Officer Kern, who sat in court, for Mr. Mineo, who was not there.
Some facts she remembered vividly. Like the names of two of the officers -- she said she had looked at their nameplates -- and the fact that one officer, Kevin Maloney, had made a face at Mr. Mineo as he sat handcuffed in the squad car. "He squinted, he threw back his head, and he turned up his nose," Ms. Dallas recalled.
Prosecutors said that Officer Maloney would corroborate Mr. Mineo's story.
Ms. Dallas's son, who is now 13 and wore a gray suit in court, had a close-up view of the events in front of the station agent's booth, where prosecutors said the assault took place. As Mr. Mineo tried to escape, one officer "clotheslined" him, James testified. Then the officer, whom defense lawyers identified as Noel Jugraj, threw Mr. Mineo against the wall and onto the floor, and kicked him in the face, according to the boy. Mr. Jugraj has not been charged in the case.
James said that he did not see anyone insert an object between Mr. Mineo's buttocks, but that an officer was blocking his view. He testified that he heard one of the officers ask Mr. Mineo where the drugs were, and another say, "In his butt." Mr. Mineo replied, "I didn't put it in my butt. I swallowed it," James said.
His father is also expected to testify.
Source: New York Times (NY)
Author: Kareem Fahim
VIVID TESTIMONY IN TRIAL OF THREE OFFICERS ACCUSED IN SUBWAY STATION ASSAULT
In October 2008, from different vantage points, three members of the Dallas family watched the frenzied sequence of events that Michael Mineo says led to his abuse at the hands of police officers and that the officers say led to a mostly unexceptional arrest.
Andrea Dallas watched from her car parked on Flatbush Avenue in Brooklyn as police officers who had seen Mr. Mineo smoking a marijuana cigarette chased him into the Prospect Park subway station. Her son, James Avery Dallas, and her husband, also named James, saw the officers confront Mr. Mineo in the station.
On Thursday, as the case opened in State Supreme Court in Brooklyn, Ms. Dallas and her son testified that they had heard the same anguished expression of disbelief over and over again from Mr. Mineo: that an officer had "shoved a walkie-talkie" between his buttocks.
"He never stopped yelling," Ms. Dallas said. "That's the only thing I heard him say."
The Dallases' testimony provided the first witness accounts of the hazy, disputed events of Oct. 15, 2008, when prosecutors contend Officer Richard Kern repeatedly shoved his retractable baton between Mr. Mineo's buttocks. Two other officers, Alex Cruz and Andrew Morales, are charged with covering up the assault. The officers have been assigned to desk duty, with their guns and badges taken away.
In opening arguments, the lead prosecutor, Charles Guria, said the cover-up was proof of the crime, noting that after chasing Mr. Mineo and forcefully handcuffing him, officers let him walk away with a summons.
"All of a sudden, no one wants to arrest Michael Mineo," Mr. Guria said. "They want Michael Mineo to leave. The other officers were trying to make sure Michael Mineo did not go to a hospital, did not go to a police station.
"I don't care what kind of law Michael Mineo broke," he added, "there's no explanation, no excuse for what happened here."
Defense lawyers, meanwhile, wasted no time trying to tarnish the reputation of Mr. Mineo, calling him a scam artist, a poseur and a "packaged product."
John D. Patten, a lawyer representing Officer Kern, and the other lawyers said that Mr. Mineo was motivated by money, and mentioned his federal civil rights lawsuit against the city that seeks hundreds of millions of dollars in damages. They also mentioned his criminal record and tattoos.
"Is Mr. Mineo credible?" Mr. Patten asked. "The evidence will show that he is not."
The lawyers said that Mr. Mineo's medical record showed no sign of an attack. He might have suffered from a previous infection, they said, or might have injured himself during the arrest. The lawyers spent considerable time talking about Mr. Mineo's underwear, saying that the square hole in it could not have been made by a baton.
The defense seemed thrown by the appearance of Ms. Dallas, who was added to the witness list only last week, and they closely questioned her and her son.
Ms. Dallas, a teacher's assistant who lives in Bedford-Stuyvesant, testified that about 1:30 p.m., Mr. Mineo ran by her car with two officers in close pursuit. They all descended into the subway station.
Sometime later, Ms. Dallas said, Mr. Mineo, surrounded by three officers, emerged in handcuffs from the subway station and was led to a police car that was double-parked in front of Ms. Dallas's car. She cracked her window but tried to pretend she was not listening -- "I was eavesdropping," she said.
Mr. Mineo, she said, told an officer that he had been treated like "some kind of a faggot."
Defense lawyers tried to elicit inconsistencies, and at one point, Ms. Dallas mistook Officer Kern, who sat in court, for Mr. Mineo, who was not there.
Some facts she remembered vividly. Like the names of two of the officers -- she said she had looked at their nameplates -- and the fact that one officer, Kevin Maloney, had made a face at Mr. Mineo as he sat handcuffed in the squad car. "He squinted, he threw back his head, and he turned up his nose," Ms. Dallas recalled.
Prosecutors said that Officer Maloney would corroborate Mr. Mineo's story.
Ms. Dallas's son, who is now 13 and wore a gray suit in court, had a close-up view of the events in front of the station agent's booth, where prosecutors said the assault took place. As Mr. Mineo tried to escape, one officer "clotheslined" him, James testified. Then the officer, whom defense lawyers identified as Noel Jugraj, threw Mr. Mineo against the wall and onto the floor, and kicked him in the face, according to the boy. Mr. Jugraj has not been charged in the case.
James said that he did not see anyone insert an object between Mr. Mineo's buttocks, but that an officer was blocking his view. He testified that he heard one of the officers ask Mr. Mineo where the drugs were, and another say, "In his butt." Mr. Mineo replied, "I didn't put it in my butt. I swallowed it," James said.
His father is also expected to testify.
