Brooklyn teen sues NYPD officer for 2 false arrests

[hrmjustin]

By John Marzulli / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

A college-bound Brooklyn teen says a vengeful cop handcuffed him and dragged him off to jail for leaving his bicycle on the sidewalk — eight days after he slapped the officer with a lawsuit alleging false arrest.

Officer Daniel Berardi and Rayquan Callahan, 19, first crossed paths on Feb. 24 in Brownsville. Callahan, then a senior at Brooklyn Collegiate High School and working seven days a week at McDonald’s, was walking out of the Rockaway Ave. subway station with two friends.

The trio stopped to talk to a 16-year-old acquaintance, according to court papers, when Berardi and several plainclothes cops started frisking the young men. The 16-year-old bolted.

The cops chased him down and recovered a gun he had tossed under a car — then inexplicably put a call over the police radio for officers to be on the lookout for Callahan and his two friends, who had already been searched and were found not to be carrying anything illegal.

Read more at http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/brooklyn-teen-sues-nypd-officer-false-arrest-article-1.1410423

[appleannie1]

1. Eight other people are suing that cop as well. Sounds like he needs to be fired.

[hrmjustin]

2. They will wait till after the case is done to make that decision.

[Smarmie Doofus]

3. A lot of police misbehavior can be explained in this quote:

>>>This is the guy who’s suing us,” Berardi told his fellow cops, according to the complaint. “I don’t care, the money isn’t coming out of my pocket.”>>>

Not just cops, but school principals, city attys, etc. All city employees are shielded from personal liability. If you are a victim of their malfeasance, and have the wherewithal to take it all the way thru the civil court system, you MIGHT be able to collect from the TAXPAYERS, but NOT from the person who actually victimized you.

Where's the incentive for the city employee to respect the rights of the people he/she serves?

Want better treatment? Incentivize, cops, bureaucrats, principals to PROVIDE it.

[hrmjustin]

4. If he costs the city too much money they will fire him in the end.

[Smarmie Doofus]

5. Bureaucratic swamps as large, dark and deep as NYC gov't rarely behave that rationally.

Even if the cop miraculously DOES get fired, the perception remains that the system is so byzantine and threatening to the outsider that potential malefactors within the system feel emboldened.

[hrmjustin]

6. Well I hope the new mayor decides some reform is needed.