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Shades of Louima Haunt Current Police Brutality Case

Wednesday, December 10, 2008

In a series of events that recall the Abner Louima brutality case, 11 years ago, an officer was accused of sodomizing a Brooklyn man on October 15. And two other officers are charged with a cover up. WNYC's Arun Venugopal has this report.

HYNES: At approximately 1 pm, Michael Mineo and a friend were in the vicinity of the Propsect Park subway station on the way to work.

REPORTER: After taking pains to praise the NYPD and its commissioner Ray Kelly, the Brooklyn District Attorney, Charles Hynes laid out the case against Richard Kern and 2 other police officers. He said they witnessed the 24-year-old Mineo smoking marijuana outside the subway station, in the middle of the day. Mineo saw them approaching, and took off.

HYNES: After a chase that included Mineo and 2 of the pursuing police officers, jumping over the turnstile, onto the subway platform, and then back over the turnstile, Mineo was intercepted, and thrown to the ground.

REPORTER: The officers rear-handcuffed Mineo, who lay on the floor, face down, near the token booth. At this point, his pants were allegedly pulled down.

HYNES: It is alleged that police officer Kern took his retractable baton and shoved it into Mr. Mineo's anus, resulting in an anal-rectal tear.

REPORTER: Hynes says a number of witnesses heard Mineo scream. But when he allegedly showed the officers the blood on his hands, they ignored him and refused to call for medical attention. And then, Officer Kern issued Mineo a summons - not for marijuana possession, but for disorderly conduct. But Hynes says it was a bogus summons, because it was dated January 2008 - and was meant to ensure that Mineo would not return to the police or courts over this incident. For good measure, Hynes says Officer Kern warned Mineo he'd be charged with a felony if he reported the assault.

Kern has been charged with 20 counts of aggravated sexual abuse, assault, and reckless endangerment.

HYNES: The top count returned against police officer, Kern aggravated sexual abuse in the first degree carries a penalty upon conviction of up to 25 years in state prison.

REPORTER: Officers Andrew Morales and Alex Cruz have also been charged, with Hindering Prosecution and attempting to cover up the assault. They each face up to 4 years in prison.

And they may have been successful if not for two of their peers - Transit Officer Kevin Maloney and Noel Jugraj. The two had been on hand during the incident, and Maloney claims to have witnessed the actual assault. Along with their testimony, the grand jury that indicted the officers also received medical evidence, matching DNA samples from Officer Kern's baton with Michael Mineo.

Officer Kern showed up at the arraignment later on. He's slight and baby faced, with a boyish haircut - and could easily pass for a teenager. He said nothing during the arraignment. Outside the courtroom, Kern's lawyer, John Patten, denied the charges and said there were discrepancies in Mineo's account that would be brought out in time.

PATTEN: What's driving this case from the complainant's side is money. Money's driving this case, and they're looking for a payday.

REPORTER: Mineo's lawyers say they do plan on bringing a civil case as well. Attorney Stephen Jackson says his client will be suffering for a long time.

JACKSON: He was for all intensive purposes, raped by New York City police officers. That's going to take some time to recover from.

REPORTER: Jackson stood next to Mineo, who laughed awkwardly as he listened to his attorney describe the violation he claims to have suffered. Mineo says that while he can maintain his composure, on the inside, he's furious.

MINEO: I'm still in pain. I move my bowels, I'm in pain. I'm too young to go through this. Nobody should go through this. But it's neither here nor there, it already happened. I'm pleased at what happened to today, but it's still not justified.

REPORTER: All three of the officers who have been charged have plead not guilty. Their next court appearance is in March. For WNYC, I'm Arun Venugopal.

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