......... Bronx cops beat me, too
Exclusive to NY Post ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
CAUGHT: Louis Miranda (above) is seen on the ground,
wearing a white sweater, in video of the beatdown.
Bronx cops beat me, too Exclusive to NY Post
by LARRY CELONA, REUVEN FENTON and PERRY CHIARAMONTE
January 22, 2010
A friend of the Bronx man whose brutal assault at the hands of a rookie cop was caught on videotape said the beating he himself took off camera was even worse.
"They threw me into the wall and punched me in the side and threw me on the floor and started kicking and punching me," Louis Miranda told The Post, recalling the Jan. 5 incident outside his Fordham building on Davidson Avenue.
"They put me in handcuffs and started kicking me and punching me in the ribs, back and face on floor. They did the same to my uncle and father."
Miranda, whose lawyer plans to file suit against the city, says he was beaten at around the same time as the videotaped attack on his pal, Jonathan Baez.
Two cops, rookie John Cicero, 28 and William Green, 26, have been suspended without pay and stripped of their guns and badges for the Baez beating.
Two sergeants, Junior Corela and Phil Connor, have been placed on modified desk duty and stripped of their guns and badges for allegedly doing nothing to stop it.
"We simply are never going to tolerate something like that," Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said yesterday. "We're going to take swift and firm action when we see activities of that nature."
Miranda said the trouble began as he was leaving his father's basement apartment and was confronted by three cops. He said he ran back in because he had no ID and was out on parole.
The cops chased him, and one ended up shooting his uncle's pit bull in the paw when it charged.
Bullet fragments ricocheted and injured the two other officers, officials said.
Miranda, 22, said the cops pounced on him moments later.
Miranda said that after the beating, he was dragged up the steps and put on the sidewalk with Baez and another suspect. He was charged with siccing the dogs on the cops, but a grand jury cleared him of any wrongdoing.
Baez was charged with obstructing government and resisting arrest. A source said the beatings happened after one of the suspects sassed a cop, telling him "it should have been him" who was shot rather than the dog.
"They never even told me they were officers to begin with," Baez told The Post. "I never resisted. The video speaks for itself."
The resident who shot the video brought it to the Bronx District Attorney's Office, which opened a criminal investigation before passing the footage on to the NYPD's Internal Affairs Bureau.
Miranda's lawyer, Jeffrey Emdin, said the fracas began when an undercover officer got into a scuffle with someone outside the building.
"This is not an isolated incident," Emdin said. "We're calling for the blue wall of silence to be broken down."
