-More evidence of the systematic nature of the casual brutality that is committed every day by officers who hold themselves above the law. Police officers are citizens, people. Accountability must be universal. We the people must step up and act as the accountants.
-Ethan I. Solomon
-From RT
For allegedly stripping a 14-year-old boy half-naked, forcing him to lay face-down in a swamp and then beating and leaving him for dead, two NYPD officers are paying $5,000 each in reparations.
On top of the $10,000 to be paid by Danese and Elliassen, taxpayers footed a $140,000 settlement on behalf of the city. Both officers, who have retained their jobs thus far despite the crimes they committed, will stay on the force as well.
Officers Richard Danese and Thomas Elliassen of the New York Police Department will have to pay no more than $5,000 each to settle a federal lawsuit stemming from a 2007 incident that ended with Rayshawn Moreno, at the time only 14, wading alone through a dark Staten Island swamp after the authorities decided to dish out some under-the-table treatment to reprimand the teen.Five years ago, the officers say they apprehended Moreno for allegedly throwing eggs at passing cars on Halloween night. Rather than returning the suspect to his parents, however, the cops took matters into their own hands. According to the boy, the officers placed him in their patrol car, drove him to a swamp and then stripped him of most of his clothes before assaulting him and driving away.
“It was dark and desolate,” attorney Jason Leventhal describes the scene to the Staten Island Standard. “Clearly the defendants chose this location so that no one could find them.”
The case against the cops went to trial shortly after, but because Moreno refused to testify, both officers escaped felony charges.
“He didn’t want the officers to go to jail,” Assistant District Attorney Mario Mattei said at the time “[He believes] they should go about their lives and he should go about his.”
Without Moreno’s testimony, the officers were issued only a slight reprimand and indicted for unlawful imprisonment and endangering the welfare of a minor, avoiding charges of disorderly conduct and any felonies they could have faced after the teenager taking the stand. A civil lawsuit was later filed in Brooklyn federal court, which has officially ended this week with officers only paying a small percentage of their pay to Moreno.
“New Yorkers should be alarmed that the two men who committed this crime against a 14-year-old still wear the NYPD shield,” attorney Brett Klein tells the New York Daily News.camil2003
camil20032003@yahoo.comYes
For allegedly stripping a 14-year-old boy half-naked, forcing him to lay face-down in a swamp and then beating and leaving him for dead, two NYPD officers are paying $5,000 each in reparations.
NYPD cops remain employed despite viciously beating and leaving teen stranded in swamp is a post from Cop Block - Badges Don't Grant Extra Rights