Post by Shuftin on Dec 29, 2006 5:21:09 GMT -5
The Suffolk DA's office is investigating cops in Ocean Beach on Fire Island after claims of brutality on tourists.
December 19, 2006
BY SANDRA PEDDIE
The Suffolk district attorney's office is investigating alleged brutality and other questionable activities in the police department of Ocean Beach, a small community on Fire Island, attorneys and village officials confirmed.
Detectives served subpoenas Monday seeking information about excessive force and the police officers' civil service qualifications. People familiar with the investigation say police had beaten tourists visiting Ocean Beach, which draws thousands of visitors from Long Island and Manhattan every summer.
Complaints about the department going back several years prompted the probe in 2003, Suffolk District Attorney Thomas Spota said. The investigation picked up momentum after a New Jersey man, Samuel Gilberd, said he was beaten and suffered a ruptured bladder after being arrested for littering in August 2005.
Acting Village Police Chief George Hesse said he could not comment on the subpoenas until the investigation was completed. Village Mayor Joseph Loeffler, who took office in July, said he was aware of the investigation but could not comment on the allegations.
"I think we have a very good police department," he said. "I think they do a very good job. I think we have very few problems."
Dubbed the "Land of No" for its quirky prohibitions -- the village once banned eating a cookie on a walkway -- Ocean Beach has only two police officers full time in the winter months. The force expands in the summer, with 24 seasonal officers with varied experience and four dispatchers.
Anthony Colleluori, a Woodbury attorney who represented two men whose lawsuits resulted in confidential settlements, said of the department, "They have a storm trooper's mentality."
The investigation is the first of a police department by Spota since taking office in 2001. In an interview, he asked that anyone who experienced or witnessed excessive force to contact his office.
"I have serious concerns about the conduct and supervision of the Ocean Beach police department," Spota said. "And as a consequence, I'm going to ask a grand jury to conduct a robust probe into all aspects of this police department so that we can get to the bottom of what's occurring there."
Spota declined further comment, but people with knowledge of the investigation said current and former officers were cooperating.
While the department's supporters say police have to cope with drunken summertime revelers, court records contain allegations of excessive police force. At least seven federal and state lawsuits have been filed against the department since 1995, records show. Six resulted in confidential settlements, according to the records.
The lawsuits examined by Newsday allege what the plaintiffs described as unprovoked attacks. Amityville construction supervisor Phillip Gallina alleged that he suffered a bruised trachea after being choked by an officer in May 1995. He said he had been with a friend, Anthony Esposito, who had been arrested.
"They beat the hell out of me," Esposito said. "I said, 'I'm a lawyer. This is crazy!' It was like being in a Communist country. You had no rights." Both men were released and returned home. But Gallina saw a doctor, who told him his trachea was bruised, he said. Both men sued. Village officials denied the allegations, and their cases were settled. Gallina received $90,000 and Esposito $15,000, they said.
In the Gilberd case, filed earlier this year, Gilberd said he was beaten after being arrested for littering in August 2005. In an interview, his wife, Kana Manglapus, said she found him bleeding on the floor of the police department.
"He was completely unconscious and laying on his stomach," she said. "I asked what happened. Police said that he got upset and a clock fell on him and that they called paramedics."
Gilberd was rushed to the hospital for emergency surgery on a ruptured bladder. She said he remembered little of what happened to him, except "that they were kicking him very, very hard."
Police charged Gilberd with riotous conduct, but that charge was later dropped.
www.newsday.com/news/local/longisland/ny-licops1220,0,3352866.story?track=mostemailedlink
December 19, 2006
BY SANDRA PEDDIE
The Suffolk district attorney's office is investigating alleged brutality and other questionable activities in the police department of Ocean Beach, a small community on Fire Island, attorneys and village officials confirmed.
Detectives served subpoenas Monday seeking information about excessive force and the police officers' civil service qualifications. People familiar with the investigation say police had beaten tourists visiting Ocean Beach, which draws thousands of visitors from Long Island and Manhattan every summer.
Complaints about the department going back several years prompted the probe in 2003, Suffolk District Attorney Thomas Spota said. The investigation picked up momentum after a New Jersey man, Samuel Gilberd, said he was beaten and suffered a ruptured bladder after being arrested for littering in August 2005.
Acting Village Police Chief George Hesse said he could not comment on the subpoenas until the investigation was completed. Village Mayor Joseph Loeffler, who took office in July, said he was aware of the investigation but could not comment on the allegations.
"I think we have a very good police department," he said. "I think they do a very good job. I think we have very few problems."
Dubbed the "Land of No" for its quirky prohibitions -- the village once banned eating a cookie on a walkway -- Ocean Beach has only two police officers full time in the winter months. The force expands in the summer, with 24 seasonal officers with varied experience and four dispatchers.
Anthony Colleluori, a Woodbury attorney who represented two men whose lawsuits resulted in confidential settlements, said of the department, "They have a storm trooper's mentality."
The investigation is the first of a police department by Spota since taking office in 2001. In an interview, he asked that anyone who experienced or witnessed excessive force to contact his office.
"I have serious concerns about the conduct and supervision of the Ocean Beach police department," Spota said. "And as a consequence, I'm going to ask a grand jury to conduct a robust probe into all aspects of this police department so that we can get to the bottom of what's occurring there."
Spota declined further comment, but people with knowledge of the investigation said current and former officers were cooperating.
While the department's supporters say police have to cope with drunken summertime revelers, court records contain allegations of excessive police force. At least seven federal and state lawsuits have been filed against the department since 1995, records show. Six resulted in confidential settlements, according to the records.
The lawsuits examined by Newsday allege what the plaintiffs described as unprovoked attacks. Amityville construction supervisor Phillip Gallina alleged that he suffered a bruised trachea after being choked by an officer in May 1995. He said he had been with a friend, Anthony Esposito, who had been arrested.
"They beat the hell out of me," Esposito said. "I said, 'I'm a lawyer. This is crazy!' It was like being in a Communist country. You had no rights." Both men were released and returned home. But Gallina saw a doctor, who told him his trachea was bruised, he said. Both men sued. Village officials denied the allegations, and their cases were settled. Gallina received $90,000 and Esposito $15,000, they said.
In the Gilberd case, filed earlier this year, Gilberd said he was beaten after being arrested for littering in August 2005. In an interview, his wife, Kana Manglapus, said she found him bleeding on the floor of the police department.
"He was completely unconscious and laying on his stomach," she said. "I asked what happened. Police said that he got upset and a clock fell on him and that they called paramedics."
Gilberd was rushed to the hospital for emergency surgery on a ruptured bladder. She said he remembered little of what happened to him, except "that they were kicking him very, very hard."
Police charged Gilberd with riotous conduct, but that charge was later dropped.
www.newsday.com/news/local/longisland/ny-licops1220,0,3352866.story?track=mostemailedlink