Judge Thomas D. Raffaele says he was witnessing an arrest in Jackson
Heights when cop targeted him
A
New York State Supreme Court justice’s police brutality claim is being
investigated by the Civilian Complaint Review Board and the NYPD’s Internal
Affairs Bureau, officials confirmed Tuesday.
Judge
Thomas D. Raffaele, 69, said he was witnessing an arrest in Jackson Heights,
Queens, on Friday morning where an unruly crowd gathered.
He
called 911 in fear the group would retaliate against the police when one
officer targeted him and used the back edge of his hand to uppercut him in the
throat.
The
matrimonial judge tried to make a complaint to a sergeant at the scene, who dismissed
his accusations, Raffaele told The New York Times.
Raffaele
experienced “a lot of pain,” he told the Times, but was released from Elmhurst
Hospital Center without any internal injuries.
Judge Is Said to Identify Officer Accused
of Hitting Him
The third officer from the left (in profile) is believed to
be the officer Justice Raffaele accused of striking him in the neck.
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, officials briefed on the case said on Wednesday.
Investigators have identified the officer, several of the officials said. The judge, Justice Thomas D. Raffaele, 69, said the uniformed officer flew into a rage on a Queens street last week and struck him, apparently mistaking him for one of the hecklers who were jeering at the officer and complaining about his treatment of the handcuffed man.
The judge picked the officer’s picture out of a photo array, two of the officials said. The New York Police Department did not release the name of the officer, who works in the 115th Precinct in Jackson Heights, Queens, and Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly said that his duty status had not changed, meaning he remained assigned to patrol duties.
“The investigation is going forward,” Mr. Kelly said, speaking at an event at Police Headquarters. “We have to assemble the facts and, obviously, talk to officers who were on the scene. That’s all being either conducted now, or will shortly be conducted by the Internal Affairs Bureau.”
Mr. Kelly said the Civilian Complaint Review Board, an independent agency that investigates complaints of police misconduct that do not rise to the level of a crime, was also looking into the episode.
Justice Raffaele, who sits in the Matrimonial part in State Supreme Court in Jamaica, Queens, said he told internal affairs investigators on Friday that the attack on him was unprovoked.
“That’s the allegation,” Mr. Kelly said. “Obviously, that’s a serious allegation.”
Justice Raffaele also told them that the officer repeatedly jammed his knee into the handcuffed man’s back as he lay facedown in the street.
The man, Charles Memminger, 47, has been interviewed by prosecutors in the office of the Queens district attorney, Richard A. Brown, and Internal Affairs investigators from Group 54, a specialized unit that handles complaints of excessive force, said Mr. Memminger’s lawyer, Kevin P. O’Donnell.
Mr. O’Donnell said he had photographed “incredibly substantial bruises” on his client’s back and turned the pictures over to investigators. Mr. O’Donnell also said his client, who is homeless, suffered abrasions under his chin because his face was pressed into the pavement, and bruises to his knee.
There is also a video recording of the encounter, Mr. O’Donnell said, adding that his client had seen it, although Mr. O’Donnell could provide no details of what it shows. He said he anticipated that he would file a federal civil rights lawsuit against the Police Department and the officer or officers involved.
Justice Raffaele said the encounter occurred early Friday, shortly after midnight. He had been cleaning out his parents’ house — they had relocated to Houston — and moving some furniture when he and a friend came upon the officer and his partner on 74th Street near 37th Road in Jackson Heights, he said.
The two officers were standing over a screaming man, who was shirtless and cuffed with his hands behind his back, and a large crowd had gathered and was becoming unruly, the judge said. His first thought, he said, was that the police officers needed help to keep order; he said he called 911 and told the operator that the officers needed help.
He then saw that the officer who he said later struck him was dropping his knee into the man’s back and that the man was pleading with him to stop, the judge said. Minutes later, he said, the officer flew into a rage and began screaming at the crowd. Apparently mistaking him for one of the people who were jeering, the officer rushed forward and, without warning or provocation, delivered a sharp blow to the judge’s throat with the upper side of his hand, the judge said.
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.