NYC Officer Accused of Assault

The New York Times reports on the case which was initially described as sodomy with an antenna. Michael Mineo claimed that he was rousted in the subway by several of New York's Finest and among other things sodomized with an object he thought was an antenna. At the time it sounded like a most unlikely story, but brutal things like that have happened before. Now it seems the charge is a simple assault in which the nightstick of Officer Richard Kern came in contact with the rectum of Mr. Mineo.

Mr. Mineo, whom the police suspected of smoking marijuana, told investigators he was sodomized with an object while the officers grappled with him. A transit officer who took part in the arrest testified that Officer Kern touched Mr. Mineo’s buttocks with his baton.

Colleagues and supervisors of Officer Kern's have come out in support of him. They say he is a good officer with a clean record, definitely not someone who would do something like this. Yet...

Twice previously, Officer Kern was accused of using excessive force. but his lawyer said he was cleared in both cases by the Civilian Complaint Review Board. One of the incidents, in 2007, prompted two lawsuits that the city agreed to settle for a total of $50,000.

Officer Kern was accused of making unlawful arrests and manhandling people washing their coats in the laundry room of a Brooklyn housing project.

Like the two earlier lawsuits, it alleges that Officer Kern struck Mr. Acuna with his gun, unnecessarily sprayed him with Mace and choked him.

What's it sound like to you? I'd be the first one to point out that cops who do wrong should be given the benefit of the doubt like anybody else. But, shouldn't they be held to a higher standard? Shouldn't the public trust placed upon them demand more than it does of a regular citizen? What do you think?

What I think is Officer Kern is just 25 years old, has been on the job only a couple years, and has already been involved in several questionable situations. This doesn't happen to straight cops who conduct themselves properly. He sounds like a violent, dangerous young man with a badge and a gun. I don't know who's more frightening: guys like him or the criminals he's supposed to protect us from.

And what do you think about that Blue Wall of Silence, the colleagues and supervisors who unequivocally stand behind him. Only one Transit Cop reported that he'd seen something untoward. Cops protecting each other even when wrongdoing occurs, is what, some kind of loyalty? What do you think?

Brooklyn Man Allegedly Sodomized by Police

CNN reports today on the disturbing story of a Brooklyn man who claims he was sodomized by policemen in the subway.

Lawyers for Michael Mineo, 24, allege he was jumped by five officers inside a Brooklyn subway station, then sodomized with the antenna of a police radio.

NYPD chief spokesman Paul J. Browne told CNN that several people who were near Mineo when he was arrested "do not support Mineo's story that he had been sodomized."

It's hard to give the benefit of the doubt to both sides in a case like this. Initially, I leaned towards the police, which is against my nature. But the more I read, the more I believed Michael Mineo's story.

The World Prout Assembly site has some pretty gory details that support the victim.

Especially damning for the cops is the Brooklyn View site and the All NY Blog, the latter of which contains a picture of a distraught Michael Mineo in the hospital bed.

I'm still taking it all with a grain of salt; I think that's wise when reading stuff on the internet. But, it certainly brings up some of our favorite questions. Do cops tend to abuse their power? How frequent is that? I'll bet law enforcement supporters would be offended at the mere questioning of it, and like the gun enthusiasts, they'd surely claim the percentage of abusers is minimal, perhaps even less than 1%. What do you think?