"Swiss Cheese Man" Angel Alvarez -- the innocent
survivor of a Harlem police shootout that left him with 26 bullet holes -- won
an important victory in his ongoing federal police brutality lawsuit today when
a judge ordered Manhattan prosecutors to turn over transcripts from the grand
jury proceeding that cleared him last year of all charges in the bloody
incident.
Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Gregory Carro ordered that
the grand jury testimony of the eight cops Alvarez is suing -- including the
four cops who shot at him -- be turned over to both Alvarez and to lawyers for
the city. Alvarez lawyer Matthew Galluzzo called the transcripts crucial to the
federal lawsuit, which seeks unspecified cash damages from the city.
"The grand jury did not find any reason to believe Mr.
Alvarez had committed a crime," Galluzzo said. "So the police did not
have probable cause to try to kill him -- and now if all the cards are on the
table in the federal suit, we win."
Alvarez is ambulatory, but continues to suffer from his
injuries, including being unable to lift his right shoulder, Galluzzo said.
Grand jurors found Alvarez had not been committing a crime
when he was shot in August, 2010, at a Lenox Avenue block party while grappling
in self defense with another man who was armed with a .38-caliber revolver.
That man, Luis Soto, was slain by a police bullet. Four
bystanders were also injured, along with one cop who was injured by a bullet
fired by another cop.
The four police officers who fired their weapons -- in the
mistaken belief that Alvarez pointed the gun at them -- were also cleared of
criminal charges.