New York police in Queens are investigating an allegation that a police officer struck a New York Supreme Court justice in the throat. State Supreme Court justice Thomas D. Raffaele, 69, says that he was moving some furniture from his parents’ home when he stopped to see why a crowd had formed on the street. The crowd was jeering an officer who was arresting a man and was being criticized for being too rough. Raffaele says the officer became irate and charged the hecklers — hitting people with his baton including the judge.
The judge picked out the officer’s picture in the later investigation.
The question is whether this should be treated not just as a matter for the civilian review board but a criminal matter. Any citizen who beats people on the street would be arrested for assault and battery. Heckling an officer is not a crime. Unless the officer can show that someone threw something at him or physically threatened him, it is hard to see the possible defense to such a charge.
No reports of arrests or charges have been reported. Notably, this includes the man on the ground who was being arrested. The man, Charles Memminger, 47, is a homeless man and showed extensive bruising on this back where the officer was seen kneeing him (and causing the criticism of the crowd).
Source: NY Times
With a view to what Shano posts and what I previously posted:
“If the police/prosecutor investigates we know where that leads. It is simply a matter how much pressure can be put on the judge to force him to weasel out of his stand so far.
Why do judges always give preference to police testimony, if only to avoid being surveilled and found guilty of something? Simple self-preservation.
And who would not do that? When was the last time any of you challenged the system you are part of?”
Neither judges, prosecutors, police administrators, nor the President himself dare buck the system.
Any votes to the contrary?
From the interwebs:
The day after the Judge got punched, a NY district attorney (Yaser Othman) was arrested by NYPD narcotics officers on various charges during a traffic stop. The cops “just happened” to find narcotics on the DA. Planted evidence?
Here is a cross-post from the NY Daily News:
Dear Mr. Othman, I read in the Wall Street Journal on your case that you were representing yourself. I don’t know if the WSJ reported that correctly, but as an attorney I am sure that you are aware of the advantages of being represented by Counsel. I definitely suggest that you retain a defense attorney for this case.
Also, I would suggest contacting the ACLU and other legal groups. They might be quite eager to take a case where a state prosecutor is the victim of narcotics cops planting drugs. They might highlight the case to show that police abuse can happen to anybody! And speaking of NYPD misconduct, see also that case the other day where a 69-year old JUDGE of New York Supreme Court (Thomas Raffaele) got PUNCHED by a cop in the Queens 115th precinct. The NYPD is out of control and a menace to everyone, even the Judges and Prosecutors!”
Police brutality and false charges are not just for ordinary citizens anymore.
Also, the crowd “jeering” referred to in the ABA article is described there as the crowd yelling at the officer to stop assaulting the suspect, who is bleeding and literally begging the officer to stop torturing him.
That’s not jeering, that’s protesting police brutality, and the eye-witness judge and nurse agreed and added their voices. They should not be in fear for their lives in doing so:
“If I hadn’t moved my head back when I was being hit, I think I would have been killed on the spot. That’s how hard I was hit, and I am saying that from the perspective of someone who was trained in the Army on hand-to-hand combat.”
http://www.abajournal.com/news/article/new_york_judge_says_cop_punched_him_after_apparently_mistaking_him_for_a_he/?utm_source=maestro&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=weekly_email
Yet he is not going to press any charges?
It is a technique known to all police and the likely damages and death that it may cause is of course known. Whether the victim is supine or prone, application of continuous pressure can cause a reflex resulting in heart failure or asphyxiation.
We’ve had a few such cases here in Sweden, done both by police and civil guards.
This is akin to the reaction of herbivores in the jaws of carnivores, ie the body gives up its struggle and shortens the process of needless pain by simply giving up, ie dying.
I am less familiar as to the results of repeated impacts as happened here. There can be bone fracture, including spinal ones leading to paralysis, or organ rupture, for ex. the spleen, which have been demonstrated.
The need for beating of a handcuffed man is self-evidently a crime unless harm can be shown to be a danger to the officer. Needless battery is not officially approved. Needful battery can be a part of subduing and bringing under control an individual. Otherwise I feel it is criminal.
“Asked whether he intended to sue, Justice Raffaele said, ‘At this point, no, I don’t.’
He added: ‘I do feel that it’s important for this person to be disciplined. I don’t know if he should be an officer or not — what he was doing was so violent.’
So, the judge who was attacked is not going to press charges?
How will that solve anything? There should be an independent investigation into this “so violent” police officer. Has anyone else been hospitalized on his watch, was he on drugs, etc.
Does the homeless man who was handcuffed and beaten- (which seems to me to be a variety of torture)- get any remedy? Is he capable of filing charges of brutality and the follow through, probably not!
It is a sick society we have if people are afraid to make our armed policemen responsible for their actions on duty.
This judge seems to think the policeman has not done this in the past and will stop doing this to innocent people in the future…..
Shades of Kent State
Dredd,
CLH paraphrased what was in the NYTimes article
From the first paragraph:
“he noticed an angry crowd growing around some police officers, who were standing over a cuffed and shirtless man lying face down on the pavement. Raffaele called 911 to report that the officers needed backup”
The judge is concerned about the welfare of the officers, not the man they were abusing.
The end of the article (page 2)
“Asked whether he intended to sue, Justice Raffaele said, ‘At this point, no, I don’t.’
He added: ‘I do feel that it’s important for this person to be disciplined. I don’t know if he should be an officer or not — what he was doing was so violent.’
Yep, only one rotten apple in the barrel. But I do think he has something to think about. Why was the man being treated so badly? Apparently he was doing nothing wrong since he wasn’t arrested. Why did the second officer not stop the abuse? or was he involved in it? Was there reason for the on-lookers to be upset with the cops? How many people get hit by the cops as he did and don’t get justice. He was initially ignored. Hope he cogitates on this and becomes the believer you believe he is.
CHL – I think you see the same thing with pedophilia when its male on male its “those homosexuals are all child rapists” but when its male on female nobody suggests its all hetros are rapists. Race and region cause this sort of deal too, with my group its just one bad apple – with that other group over there its something wrong with all of them.
Dredd said “A true believer is made every day. This time the true believer is a judge.” Not long ago a patient that was a police dispatcher never believed the “crazy” stories she would hear about the officers she dispatched. Until it happened to her. She was so stunned that she did not tell the officer where she worked. He popped a cork when he ran the car plates and found out. Blamed her for his bad behavior. Now when she hears stories of the CHP running dogs off the Coronado bridge for giggles, she believes it. (dispatches animal control hopefully before they finish having their fun as they don’t call it in until after they are done)
Dredd,
CLH didn’t say you lied. He just came to a different conclusion is based on:
“his initial involvement in the interaction was out of concern for the police officer, not the homeless man being abused. And then his response to it was, “Some people shouldn’t be police officers.”
In other words, he saw only a specific incident, and will continue to believe that police abuse is isolated and rare. Hope I’m wrong.
————————————————-
I read the same about the judge’s concern and his quote yesterday. (Sorry I didn’t save the url of the article. Will post it if I come across it.) I find CLH’s conclusion more likely than yours, but I hope yours is the one that prevails
If the police/prosecutor investigates we know where that leads. It is simply a matter how much pressure can be put on the judge to force him to weasel out of his stand so far.
Why do judges always give preference to police testimony, if only to avoid being surveilled and found guilty of something? Simple self-preservation.
And who would not do that? When was the last time any of you challenged the system you are part of?
We are all corrupt, And hypocrites. I did not simply have the knowhow to play the game. Not morality.
CLH 1, June 8, 2012 at 7:44 am
Dredd says “A true believer is made every day. This time the true believer is a judge.”
Wish it were true. However, his initial involvement in the interaction was out of concern for the police officer, not the homeless man being abused. And then his response to it was, “Some people shouldn’t be police officers.”
In other words, he saw only a specific incident, and will continue to believe that police abuse is isolated and rare. Hope I’m wrong.
==========================================
I think your hope that you are wrong will prevail.
The judge followed up zealously, telling the investigators that the attack on him by police officers was unprovoked, later picking out the officer in a photo lineup, and he went to the hospital.
He will have to relive the episode in the future when he testifies and considers his hospital bill.
I could not find your quote of the judge: “Some people shouldn’t be police officers”, in JT’s text or in the NY Times piece, but I did find this:
(NY Times piece). I stick with my prediction that the pain, hospital visit, unprovoked attack, and the process of prosecution the judge is participating in will have the effect I said it would.
In other words, you have no valid reason to say I was not telling the truth, but you do have the right to your opinion just as I do.
“Queens prosecutors and a police internal affairs unit that investigates brutality complaints are trying to determine whether a police officer accused of hitting a State Supreme Court justice in the throat and assaulting a handcuffed man committed a crime,”
In other news, Queens prosecutors are trying to determine whether a man who entered a bank, produced a knife and demanded cash committed a crime. Prosecutors say that this is a difficult call, but promise that the man will be arrested if there is any indication that a crime was committed.
Maybe the officer didn’t do so well at Chuckie Cheese….. And he was still practicing for “whack a mole”……..
CUT & PASTE
One official said an important element of the inquiry would center on the injuries suffered by the judge and Mr. Memminger. Both were treated at Elmhurst Hospital Center and released. The judge said the blow to his throat caused him severe pain, although it is unclear whether there is any lasting damage.
Mr. Memminger was not charged with a crime. UN-QUOTE
Ok the judge didn’t have any lasting injury, so the cop is innocent, (or there is nothing more to be done), move along people….
—–SERIOUSLY!?!?!?
No sign of the cop charging (in one sense of the word) anyone?
Great
A reclusive cop
A reclused judge
Too bad it wasn’t a few of the Supreme Court judges that want to leave treatment of people under arrest to the ‘professionals’, and do not feel they need to ‘second guess them’ in the way they operate.
I have a feeling the Albert Florence case would have turned out different!!
Dredd says “A true believer is made every day. This time the true believer is a judge.”
Wish it were true. However, his initial involvement in the interaction was out of concern for the police officer, not the homeless man being abused. And then his response to it was, “Some people shouldn’t be police officers.”
In other words, he saw only a specific incident, and will continue to believe that police abuse is isolated and rare. Hope I’m wrong.
The great good will the NYPD had after 9-11 has evaporated due to their more recent actions. Talk about self-inflicted wounds!
A true believer is made every day. This time the true believer is a judge.
Book ’em, Dano.