SDNY Jury
Finds Bronx
Security Guard
Was Beaten By
Police But
City Says To Set
Aside
By Matthew
Russell Lee
NEW YORK CITY,
February 8 – It was just
another night in The
Bronx, put under a five
day microscope. And when on
the fifth day the police were
found by a jury to have beaten
a Bronxite up, the City
immediately said it would move
to set aside the verdict - on
the same day the former head
of the City's corrections
officers' union was sentenced
to 58 months in jail for
bribery. That sentencing was
covered by a dozen reporters;
when this reporter went to
find the outcome of the
Bronxite trial it attended all
week, the doors were locked.
But the verdict was against
the police, see below.
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
summarized on February 6 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.
On
February 6 Connizzio's lawyer
in
the SDNY
courtroom of
Judge P. Kevin
Castel
(who praised both teams of
lawyers) denied it was him,
saying his only mistake was
not signing himself off duty
that night. Earlier they'd
argued that the presence of
plaintiff's lawyer Wylie
Stecklow at the hospital in
Yonkers was somehow
suspicious. But in rebuttal
Hurt Jr's other lawyer Cary
London told the jury, I've
kept something juicy for you.
The 44th precinct where
Connizzio worked ran two
warrant searches for James
Hurt Jr. the day after the
incident. How did they know
his name? His I.D. had been in
the gym bag he left in the
back of the gypsy cab, that
Connizzio had searched. Was
that the checkmate?
On
February 7 Inner City Press
periodically checked the
courtroom; Hurt Sr agreed it
was taking a long time, his
son's lawyer agreed it has
been a more interesting case
than usual. But at the end of
February 7 the jury decided
not to stay and went home. And
February 8 the action was on
the sentencing of Normal
Seabrook, here
and here
(with a cameo by ex-Knick
Charles Oakley). When that was
over and Inner City Press went
to check, the court door was
locked. It was informed that
the verdict was for the
plaintiff, on the named and
unnamed City defendants. And
this is confirmed on Friday
evening, when the City's Law
Department wrote asking to
delay the filing of the
judgment, see here. We'll
continue to cover this case (Hurt
JR. v. The City of New York
et al,
1:15-cv-07612-PKC) 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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