Cops Acquitted in "Subway Sodomy" Case

Officer Richard Kern was acquitted of the alleged assault of Michael Mineo and Officers Andrew Morales and Alex Cruz were acquitted of covering up the crime.

Mineo claimed that Officer Kern shoved a baton in his rectum during an arrest in the Prospect Park subway station. Without making any independent evaluation of whether they were "actually" guilty - since I have no idea - some of what may have hurt the prosecution include: A police officer testified that he saw Kern stick his antenna in Mineo's rectum - though not entirely consistently with Mineo regarding the severity of the attack. The witness said "about a half-inch," whereas Mineo was arguing that it went in deep. Mineo's credibility was already going to be weak - he is an admitted gang member (Crips) and has a multi-million dollar suit pending against the City and the officers - and this didn't help. The testifying officer was also not charged for participating in the early stages of the cover up and, if I remember correctly, was dropped from the lawsuit. Additionally, medical experts for the two sides disagreed about whether the injuries were consistent with the accusations or preexisting conditions.

The civil suit is still pending. The acquittal doesn't change anything about the civil suit except to the extent that the City is less willing to settle.