New York's finest.
April 17, 1985: Mark Davidson was arrested by
NYPD detectives on charges of selling
marijuanna and taken to the 106th Precinct in
Ozone Park section of
Queens, where he was tortured with a
stun gun and threatened with torture on his genitals. Sgt. Richard Pike and Officer Jeffrey Gilbert were convicted in 1986 of violating Davidson's rights and received 2-6 years, but were paroled after serving respective 3-5 years.
- December 22, 1994: Anthony Baez died after being arrested by NYPD Officer Francis X. Livoti.[SUP][88][/SUP] A lawsuit filed by the Baez family was later settled for $3 million.[SUP][89][/SUP] The officer was cleared of Baez's death but was eventually found guilty of violating Baez's civil rights in federal court and was sentenced to seven years in prison.
- July 4, 1996: Nathaniel Levi Gaines was shot by New York City Police officer Paolo Colecchia while unarmed on the southbound D train platform at 167th Street and the Grand Concourse. Colechia shot Gaines in the back as he fled down the deserted Bronx subway platform, and was sentenced to 5–15 years in prison for homicide; the third New York City officer ever sentenced to prison for committing homicide while on duty.[SUP][90][/SUP]
- August 1997: Abner Louima was sodomized with a broken broomstick handle while detained in a New York City police station by Officer Justin Volpe. Louima was left bleeding from the rectum in a booking cell. Despite an initial cover-up by various members of the NYPD, Volpe was convicted of assault and sentenced to 30 years.[SUP][91][/SUP] Two officers were convicted of the cover-up while one was acquitted.
- February 4, 1999: Amadou Diallo was shot and killed by New York City police officers while unarmed after the officers claimed they believed he was reaching for a gun. Four officers were indicted for second degree murder but later acquitted.[SUP][92][/SUP]
- May 22, 2003: Ousmane Zongo was shot to death by plain-clothed New York City Police while unarmed. Officers suspected him of being part of a CD theft operation (he was not involved) and shot him when he ran. The officer who shot Zongo received five years probation for negligent homicide.[SUP][93][/SUP]
- January 4, 2004: Timothy Stansbury, a 19-year-old New York City]teenager, was shot and killed by New York City Police Department Officer Richard S. Neri Jr. Neri’s partner pulled open a rooftop door so that Neri, gun drawn, could scan for drug suspects. Stansbury was coming up the stairs with a pile of CDs in his arms, intending on using the roof as a shortcut to go to a party in the adjacent building. Neri fired one shot.[SUP][94][/SUP][SUP][95][/SUP] Neri was later cleared of criminal responsibility, but given a 30-day suspension without pay.[SUP][96][/SUP] The family's lawsuit against the city was settled in 2007 for $2 million.[SUP][97][/SUP]
- November 25, 2006:The Sean Bell shooting incident took place in the New York City borough of Queens, on November 25, 2006, in which three men were shot a total of fifty times by a team of both plainclothes and undercover NYPD officers, killing one of the men, Sean Bell, on the morning after his bachelor party, and severely wounding two of his friends.[SUP][98][/SUP] Three of the five detectives involved in the shooting went to trial[SUP][99][/SUP] on charges ranging from manslaughter to reckless endangerment, and were found not guilty.[SUP][100][/SUP] On May 18, 2010, Brooklyn Federal Judge Sterling Johnson lifted a stay on the civil lawsuit brought by Nicole Paultre Bell against the City of New York. On July 27, 2010 a settlement was reached. New York City agreed to pay Sean Bell's family $3.25 million. Joseph Guzman, 34, who uses a cane and a leg brace and has four bullets lodged in his body and Trent Benefield, 26, two passengers in Bell's car who attended his bachelor party and were wounded in the shooting, will receive $3 million and $900,000 respectively in the settlement, for a total of $7.15 million.[SUP][101][/SUP]
- October 15, 2008: The NYPD subway sodomy incident took place after the arrest of Michael Mineo by New York City Police Department (NYPD) officers. According to Mineo, the arresting police officers pinned him to the ground, while Richard Kern, one of the officers, pulled down Mineo's pants and sodomized him with a police baton. On December 9, 2008, the Brooklyn District Attorney indicted the three arresting officers and charged them with felonies. Richard Kern was charged with aggravated sexual abuse in the first degree, assault in the first degree, and hindering prosecution. Two other officers, Andrew Morales and Alex Cruz, were charged with hindering prosecution and official misconduct. All three were tried and found not guilty of all charges.
- November 19, 2011: Kenneth Chamberlain, Sr., a former Marine aged 68 years, was tasered and then shot and killed in his home by police officers who responded to a falsely triggered medical alert device.[SUP][102][/SUP] The family alleges that the officers shouted racial epithets towards Chamberlain, and that he stated that he did not want to open the door because he believed the police would kill him.
- June 28, 2011: Gabriel Díaz, Cynthia Rosa, Louis Peña, Jade Everett, and James W. Ayala 'The Monumental 5', were beaten, maced, and arrested that night outside of Tammany Hall by New York City Police Department (NYPD) officers. NYPD police officers used unnecessary force to disperse all people within the vicinity of Tammany Hall in New York City which caused severe bruising and bodily inflictions upon those arrested.[SUP][103][/SUP]
