In SDNY As
Bronx Security
Guard Describes Beating By
Police Video
Father Took
Evaded Discovery
By Matthew
Russell Lee
NEW YORK CITY,
February 1 – It was just
another night in The Bronx: a
young man who worked as a
security guard hailed a gypsy
cab by the 174th Street
elevated train station of the
2 and 5 lines to drive him to
his girlfriend's house, sat in
the backseat talking with her
on Face-time on the way.
Then, as
recounted on February 4 in the
US District Court for the
Southern District of New York,
the cab was pulled over on
Boston Road by an unmarked New
York Police Department car
which turned its siren lights
on. The young man, James Hurt
Jr., was told to end the phone
call and get out of the car.
He did, but then he says he
got pushed by one officer and
then got punched in the face
three times by NYPD Sargeant
Michael Connizzio.
In the SDNY
courtroom of Judge P. Kevin
Castel, Hurt Jr. on Monday at
5 pm acknowledged that after
being punched, he ran.
But before that he said the
police explained their search
of him for guns as, "You are
the tenth," meaning they were
randomly searching every tenth
Bronxite they encountered.
Earlier in the afternoon his
father Hurt Sr., a New York
City Corrections Office, has
recounted how he picked his
son up and rather than waiting
for a New York City ambulance
drove him to St. John's
Hospital in Yonkers. He took
photographs of his son's
injuries, lacerated face and
mangled hand, he said. Then he
said yes, he had filmed a
video.
The proceeding
stopped. The video had not
been turned over to the
defense as part of discovery.
Judge Castel asked if the
video was still on Hurt Sr.
phone. He wasn't sure - his
phone had been held
downstairs, just like Inner
City Press'. Judge Castels'
deputy went down to get it.
What do it?
After the jury
was let go for the evening,
one of them lingering to leave
a note about a potential
conflict of interest, Judge
Castels directed Hurt Sr. to
email the video to his son's
lawyers and to the defense
counsel. One of them pointed
out that the minute and a half
video might be too large to
e-mail, that Drop-Box or
Google Drive might have to be
used. Hurt Sr. was told to go
to his son's lawyers' office
and download it, but not to
talk with them about the case.
There were not
other journalists in the
courtroom, other than Inner
City Press. This case (Hurt
JR. v. The City of New York
et al, 1:15-cv-07612-PKC)
was not deemed high profile or
Of Interest. Just another
night in The Bronx - but for
this nearly overlooked video.
Watch this site.
Upcoming in the
SDNY is a just-filed complaint
by the Bangladesh Central Bank
for the $81 million hacking of
its funds, which were then
wired through the Federal
Reserve Bank of New York, a case
that Inner City Press will
cover. Times change. Watch
this site.
***
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