Man sodomized by cops sues NYC for $220-mil

A New York City man who says police beat and sodomized him on a subway station platform has sued the city, the police department and the accused officers for $220 million for civil rights violations, Reuters reported.

And do you know why the cops went after him? He was smoking a joint.

Michael Mineo in the hospital after the attack (Photo by G.N. Miller)

Detective Richard Kern is charged with aggravated sexual assault and other charges and faces up to 25 years in prison. Andrew Morales and Alex Cruz are charged with participating in an attempted cover up, which included writing a summons for the victim. If convicted, each faces up to four years in prison, Reuters reported.

According to prosecutors, police officers Richard Kern and Andrew Morales observed Michael Mineo, who works at a tattoo parlor, smoking a marijuana cigarette as they sat in an unmarked police car in the early afternoon on Oct 15 near Brooklyn's Prospect Park. Another officer, Alex Cruz, arrived to provide backup, and Kern and Cruz followed Mineo into a subway station where Kern anally assaulted Mineo with a retractable baton, prosecutors said.

That's what each of them deserve and will likely get when they go to prison...IF convicted, and we know cops are rarely found guilty cuz they're above the law.

The three police officers pleaded innocent in December to criminal charges that one sodomized Mineo and the others helped cover up the crime.

"When you distill it, it was a male on male rape," Kevin Mosley, a lawyer for Mineo, said on Thursday according to the report.

"The amount of damages, which is the aggregate of the 11 counts, is reflective of the wrong and the suffering that this young man went through and will go through for the rest of his life," he said.

The criminal case is due to move forward in state court in Brooklyn in June, Reuters reported.

The incident sparked charges of police brutality and recalls the 1997 case of Abner Louima, a Haitian immigrant who was attacked with a broomstick in a Brooklyn police station. One New York City police officer was sentenced to 30 years in prison for his role in the attack, and a second officer was given a five-year prison sentence for perjury, Reuters reported.

Source: Reuters
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