Post by WaTcHeR on Nov 15, 2006 12:32:47 GMT -5
11.15.2006 - The acquittal of a former Hallandale Beach police officer accused of using excessive force against a Louisiana man ends a year-and-a-half drama filled with internal affairs investigations, firings, controversy over Tasers and three trials.
A Broward jury deliberated for about 24 minutes Monday before acquitting Officer Talous Cirilo, 32. He had been charged with three misdemeanor battery counts based on accusations that he choked Michael Brack, 24, and stunned him with a Taser six times in four minutes while he was detained at the Hallandale Beach Police Department in April 2005.
Tasers are small, gun-like devices that fire electric darts to incapacitate a person temporarily.
Broward County Judge Gary R. Cowart tossed the Taser abuse count because the prosecutor failed to show when the Taser was used against Brack and whether it worked properly.
Cirilo's original trial ended in mistrial in August because prosecutors had withheld evidence regarding a videotape that supposedly captured Cirilo's actions against Brack. The mistrial followed the acquittal in June of Mary Hagopian, a former veteran Hallandale Beach police officer who was on duty at the holding area when Brack was brought in. She had been charged with one misdemeanor battery count.
The two officers, with a combined 20 years on the force, were fired in December after an eight-month internal affairs investigation. Defense attorney Alberto Milian accused the government of political maneuvering in bringing the case and spending taxpayer money on recovering evidence, sending an investigator to Arizona and flying Brack to Florida to testify.
"You know when government officials get on a particular line, they'll do everything they can to justify themselves," Milian said during closing arguments.
In an interview after the verdict, Milian said he believed the case sprang from "ambitious people in the police department to hang heads on the wall as a trophy" for cracking down on public corruption.
Dick Brickman, president of the Broward County Police Benevolent Association, said he did not know whether the prosecution was politically driven. Assistant State Attorney Catherine Maus was unavailable for comment despite calls to her office.
Brack ended up in the Hallandale Beach police station on April 1, 2005, after police took him into custody for fighting with his brother, William, in a car on Federal Highway. Police charged Brack with domestic violence for attacking William in a tussle that left Brack with a bite mark on his neck and the car with a broken window.
Cirilo, a backup officer called to the scene, later secured Brack in a police station holding cell. Maus had alleged that in response to Brack's loud behavior, Cirilo put his hand and arm to Brack's neck and pushed him against the wall. In the fingerprinting area, she told jurors, Cirilo choked Brack to unconsciousness and hit his head against the ground until he revived. She said the officer later zapped Brack with a Taser repeatedly.
www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/broward/sfl-ccirilo14nov14,0,418849.story?coll=sfla-news-broward
A Broward jury deliberated for about 24 minutes Monday before acquitting Officer Talous Cirilo, 32. He had been charged with three misdemeanor battery counts based on accusations that he choked Michael Brack, 24, and stunned him with a Taser six times in four minutes while he was detained at the Hallandale Beach Police Department in April 2005.
Tasers are small, gun-like devices that fire electric darts to incapacitate a person temporarily.
Broward County Judge Gary R. Cowart tossed the Taser abuse count because the prosecutor failed to show when the Taser was used against Brack and whether it worked properly.
Cirilo's original trial ended in mistrial in August because prosecutors had withheld evidence regarding a videotape that supposedly captured Cirilo's actions against Brack. The mistrial followed the acquittal in June of Mary Hagopian, a former veteran Hallandale Beach police officer who was on duty at the holding area when Brack was brought in. She had been charged with one misdemeanor battery count.
The two officers, with a combined 20 years on the force, were fired in December after an eight-month internal affairs investigation. Defense attorney Alberto Milian accused the government of political maneuvering in bringing the case and spending taxpayer money on recovering evidence, sending an investigator to Arizona and flying Brack to Florida to testify.
"You know when government officials get on a particular line, they'll do everything they can to justify themselves," Milian said during closing arguments.
In an interview after the verdict, Milian said he believed the case sprang from "ambitious people in the police department to hang heads on the wall as a trophy" for cracking down on public corruption.
Dick Brickman, president of the Broward County Police Benevolent Association, said he did not know whether the prosecution was politically driven. Assistant State Attorney Catherine Maus was unavailable for comment despite calls to her office.
Brack ended up in the Hallandale Beach police station on April 1, 2005, after police took him into custody for fighting with his brother, William, in a car on Federal Highway. Police charged Brack with domestic violence for attacking William in a tussle that left Brack with a bite mark on his neck and the car with a broken window.
Cirilo, a backup officer called to the scene, later secured Brack in a police station holding cell. Maus had alleged that in response to Brack's loud behavior, Cirilo put his hand and arm to Brack's neck and pushed him against the wall. In the fingerprinting area, she told jurors, Cirilo choked Brack to unconsciousness and hit his head against the ground until he revived. She said the officer later zapped Brack with a Taser repeatedly.
www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/broward/sfl-ccirilo14nov14,0,418849.story?coll=sfla-news-broward