Prospect Park Station Assault: Lawsuit Coming

Apologies for turning this blog into a police blotter, but there is more on the assault of Michael Mineo in the Prospect Park station. According to the Daily News, Mineo's attorney's have provided the city with a notice of intent to sue and the early line on the amount of the claim is ... $200,000,000.

Mineo's claim is $25 million more than Abner Louima asked for. In reality, however, the amount of the claim isn't a serious number; it is meant to grab headlines and keep the media focussed on the case. Despite considerably worse abuse and far more severe injuries, Louima ultimately settled for $8.5 million.

Two things I have learned about the case since last posting: (1) Officer Richard Kern has been accused of excessive force before and (2) Mineo's DNA was found on the baton allegedly used in the assault. Officer Kern continues to deny the allegations.

Timoshenko Verdict #2: Guilty on all counts

Dexter Bostic, the second of the three defendants tried for the murder of Officer Timoshenko to receive a verdict, was found guilty on all counts on Friday. He faces a sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole.

The jury for the third defendant, Lee Woods, is still out. Woods was charged with aggravated murder for being a part of the events that led to the shooting but was not himself believed to be a shooter; prosecutors believed that Woods was the driver of the car.

Robert Ellis, who was believed to be a shooter by the prosecution, was acquitted of the same charge because he claimed to be the driver. It makes you wonder, given the way the prosecutors charged Woods, if they should have spent more time arguing that it didn't matter if Ellis was the shooter or not for a murder charge to stand. Instead, they focused on proving that Ellis was culpable as a shooter and in failing to convince the jury of that beyond a reasonable doubt, the jury apparently didn't see fit to convince Ellis on a different standard. The Woods prosecutors,  focused specifically on proving that the driver should be found guilty of murder, paradoxically, may stand a better chance of convicting Woods.

Indictment in PLG subway assault coming

According to the Daily News, Officer Richard Kern will be indicted for an assault in the Prospect Park subway station during which he allegedly rammed his baton up Michael Mineo's behind.

More later when the indictment is opened on Tuesday.

Violent Crime in PLG and CB9 Meetings

Last night, at 10:14 PM at Bedford and Parkside, there was a shooting. This comes on the heels of an attempted armed robbery / shooting on Lefferts and Nostrand on Monday, a shooting at Flatbush and Parkside in the afternoon on November 13th, a homicide on the 12th at Woodruff and Ocean and a stabbing at Winthrop and Flatbush on the 5th.

Perhaps this spate of violent crime in our neighborhood is worth discussing at the CB9 meeting on Tuesday.

Community Board 9 Meeting
Tuesday, November 25 @ 7:00PM (see the agenda here)
MS61 (400 Empire Blvd. between Nostrand and New York)

Thanks, Livia.

UPDATE: Tonight's CB meeting is not a general meeting, but rather for the Economic Development Committee. I have amended the post to correct. Tonight's meeting is at 7PM at 890 Nostrand Ave. The agenda is available here.

Update on the NYPD -n- PLG

The last few days have been active in neighborhood-related NYPD news. First, the trial of Dexter Bostic, Robert Ellis and Lee Woods for the murder of Officer Russel Timoshenko began on November 11 and is ongoing. Last week the prosecution called Officer Herman Yan, who was also injured during the incident, and showed surveillance video of the police approaching the defendants' SUV and Officer Yan firing at the SUV after it drives off; Officer Timoshenko was off-camera when he was shot. Yesterday, Tameeka Buggs — an acquaintance of Woods who had sex with Ellis hours before the incident — testified that after the shooting the defendants were talking about having shot somebody. Today, Buggs testified that Woods warned her not to talk to police or she "would be next." Bostic's attorney cross-examined Buggs and she admitted that the first time she spoke to police she denied knowing the defendants or having any information about the shooting. Also, though it isn't probative of anything (though the implication is that Buggs is a person of questionable character), Buggs testified that she used to be a stripper and that she once asked for Woods' help because a neighbor was trying to pimp her out.

Meanwhile, the grand jury investigating the alleged police brutality incident at the Prospect Park train station is ongoing.  Two weeks ago, alleged victim Michael Mineo testified that he was violated by police during an arrest for smoking marijuana. His account was apparently backed up by Transit Officer Kevin Maloney. According to the Daily News:

Maloney, 26, said he spotted cops chasing Michael Mineo and subduing him in the Prospect Park subway station. The young cop said he was cuffing Mineo when Officer Richard Kern, 25, unfolded his NYPD-issued baton and poked Mineo on the left buttock, sources said. As Mineo struggled, Kern then maneuvered the baton between Mineo's buttocks, the officer testified, according to sources.

Maloney apparently did not testify that he saw the baton go in Mineo's rectum. Mineo has testified that he was treated two times after the incident for "rectal tears."

I took the accompanying picture at the Parkside Avenue train station this morning. I probably shouldn't make light of this,  but ... given Officer Maloney's testimony, shouldn't that say "NYPD -n- Criminals' Bums"?

A Local Louima?

Police are denying reports that they beat and sodomized a man at the Prospect Park subway station on October 15:

Michael Mineo says he was standing outside the Prospect Park subway station in Prospect Lefferts Gardens at 12:30 p.m. on Oct. 15 when a group of uniformed cops approached him and accused him of smoking marijuana.

The confrontation escalated, Mineo says, and he fled into the station. There, he says, the cops jumped him. While one cop held his legs and another held his shoulders, he says one of the cops pulled down his pants.

At that point, Mineo says, one of the cops shoved something - apparently the antenna of a police radio - into his rectum.

According to police, however, "Police officers grappled with an individual who they observed smoking marijuana after he had fled and resisted being handcuffed," Deputy Police Commissioner Paul Browne said. "His assertion that he was sodomized is not supported by independent civilian witnesses on the scene."

It is unclear how true that account is, however, as the Daily News quotes an unnamed police source as there being a witness that saw Mineo's naked behind (but not any sodomizing) and heard Mineo protest  "Why are you trying to taser me? Why did you stick a walkie-talkie up my ass?" Whether the protest was sincere is unclear, as none of the officers apparently had tasers.

UPDATE: According to Newsday, the accused police officers are "in some kind of trouble."

Michael Mineo has injuries that show he was beaten and sexually assaulted, the source said. Records obtained by The Associated Press show Mineo arrived at Brookdale University Hospital and Medical Center on Oct. 15 complaining he had been assaulted by police with a foreign object. The papers say he left the hospital four days later after he was treated for "anal assault."

"There's something inappropriate that happened here," the source said. "Whether it's something criminal or something that would be handled departmentally, it's too early to tell. He's got injuries that support his claim. Someone has to explain his injuries.

"I think we're looking at a situation in which these cops are in a jam."

Protect Your Downspouts

Someone on the Lefferts list just reported that a thief is going around pulling off metal downspouts off of houses on Fenimore and loading them into a grocery cart, presumably to sell as scrap metal:

He tried [to steal our downspout] with no success and then proceeded to pull off the neighbor's.  My husband retrieved the piece from him  with some bickering -- he claimed it was in the garbage -- but it was clearly pulled off.

He has white hair, dark moustache, wearing a maroon/dark brown hoodie/sweatshirt and he is pushing a black granny cart.  He was on Flatbush heading in the direction of Rutland ... keep an eye open if you are home.  This happened at about 11:45.

Another neighbor who witnessed this said this has been happening in
the neighborhood recently.

Fortunately, the witnesses managed to take photos of the perpetrator.  If you see this guy around, please call 311 and report him to the 71st Police Precinct.

DA Erases Timoshenko Suspect Interview

The prosecution of Robert Ellis — the man who allegedly killed Officer Russel Timoshenko in PLG last July — just got a little harder. An audio technician in the Brooklyn DA's office accidentally taped over a custodial interview that Ellis gave to a detective. Whoops. The DA still has the detective's notes of the interview and a follow-up interview that was videotaped (make a backup!), but the spoliation of evidence can only hurt the prosecution.

Celebrity defense attorney Ron Kuby's advice to the DA? "... put the poor schlub on the witness stand, so they can say to the jury, 'You heard this man, he explained what happened, and he feels as bad about this as anyone." Which is good advice, and not the kind of thing that defense attorneys usually tell the DA. Isn't that a violation of some kind of guild code?

(Via Gothamist)

Crime down in 71st Precinct

Some day I'll stop stealing story ideas from the excellent Brooklyn Junction, but until then I can't help but point out that crime has dropped precipitously in our neighborhood, as it has throughout the City. Check our last Friday's New York Times' story and the new 71st Precinct numbers. The stat that jumped out at me is the number of murders in NYC:

So far [this year], with roughly half the killings analyzed, only 35 were found to be committed by strangers...The vast majority died in disputes with friends or acquaintances, with rival drug gang members or — to a far lesser degree — with romantic partners, spouses, parents and others.

All the more reason to listen to Mom and stop playing with the gangbangers, kids.