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A Brooklyn man whose beating last year by two police officers was caught on videotape, and the story broke first on CrownHeights.info, has filed a civil rights lawsuit Tuesday against the officers and the city.

Ehud Halevy Files Civil Suit Against the NYPD

A Brooklyn man whose beating last year by two police officers was caught on videotape, and the story broke first on CrownHeights.info, has filed a civil rights lawsuit Tuesday against the officers and the city.

Ehud Halevy’s complaint alleges that the 21-year-old was punched about two dozen times in an Oct. 8 beating that lasted more than two minutes. He also was pepper-sprayed in the face, according to the complaint filed in Brooklyn federal court.

A spokeswoman said the city Law Department would review the papers.

The two officers, Luis Vega and Yelena Bruzzese, responded to a call of a dispute inside the outreach center at the Aliya Institute in Crown Heights.

The synagogue has since said that Halevy was sleeping in a back room and had permission to be there.

Video from a security camera showed the officers confronting Halevy.

At one point Vega landed a hard right that knocked Halevy onto one of the couches.

Halevy put up a struggle, Vega pummeled him and Bruzzese appeared to hit him with a baton before he was finally subdued.

Halevy was arrested on charges that included assault, resisting arrest and trespassing. He spent four days in jail, but the charges were eventually dropped.

Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly has called the video “disturbing.”

Halevy’s attorney, Norman Siegel, said his client suffered physical pain and psychological trauma as a result of the beating. The lawsuit seeks unspecified damages.

 

The video CrownHeights.info published and garnered nearly a half a million views:

 

21 Comments

  • i wish him luck!

    i hope he wins!!! what the cops did to halevi was VERY wrong. he deserves to win. not like the loser Shimon Gifter who is complaining when the cops did nothing wrong (except damaging his camera).

    good luck halevi!!!

    • Milhouse

      What are you talking about? The cops did nothing wrong to GIfter? How do you figure that? They had no right to detain him, they had no right to touch him, and they definitely had no right to delete his pictures. They think they’re kings, that they’re above the law, and someone needs to teach them a lesson that they’re not.

  • Jenine Stock

    I don’t think Ehud should pursue this suing of cops… They let him walk luckily, it could have been worse. To top that off, a liable suit will only bring the wrath of the police onto the Jews in revenge. Let good alone

    • smadi

      They beat him up, in a place he was legally allowed to be.

      As a jew we should turn the other cheek, that worked well in germany? If the authorities do something wrong we must not allow the line to be crossed at all.

    • LZ

      “Leave good enough alone”. This is a head in the sand statement. You have an entire community outraged and a man clearly beaten and mistreated by police. If you let this incident slide then you can be sure more will follow. Really change takes courage and strength. Stand up and fight. Dont let the public forget what has occurred. There have been so many instances of police brutality. They say to Protect and Serve. Just like a doctor they should be held accountable if they break this oath. This policeman should be fired. A desk job? They say the department took away his gun. In this video he didnt need a gun.

  • Just Passing By...

    So, he’s resisting arrest. What are they supposed to do? Would he rather have been shot or tasered? I’m not from NY, so I’m not sure, does the NYPD not have tasers? I’m don’t know what options the police have if he was putting up a fight and resisting them. A man like that who puts our law enforcement in harms way deserves to be locked up!

    • joking?

      Don’t you think they’ve learned some tactics on how to deal with these things? they have proper training for this. which is not loosing it on the guy and going all out!

    • smadi

      It is not illegal to resist being arrested when you have a legal right to be there.

      Which he did.

  • Uncle Mendel

    First, why didn’t we see the full video before? Second, I lost count of how many police showed up to restrain this one, unarmed, undressed guy.
    Hmmmm…..

  • good for him

    they will settle really fast. no need to to for a jury. the NYPD will louse there pants. so dont worry about Halavy and good for him lets hope he gets good on our tax dollar instead of going some where else is claim

  • thanks for suing us

    if he wins money it comes out of our pockets the tax payers, so thank you for suing the city now when we have no money. Go get a job if you want money.

    • Milhouse

      The taxpayers elected this government and hired these policemen, and legitimately owe this money, so why shouldn’t they pay it? If the city were vigilant about training cops to obey the law it wouldn’t have to compensate the victims of police lawlessness.

  • Not Enough

    the NYPD and DA
    have a duty to prosecute this Criminals with baeges
    civil suite in not enough to protect the Jews
    put this criminals in jail

  • to#4-5

    i think your a cop.
    i cant believe your a normal citizen. didn’t you see the video or your just plain stupid and blind to what really happened. look he didn’t do anything. he just spoke up for him self and got beaten up bad

  • The cop is an ANIMAL

    B”H

    One way you can see the type of person you are dealing with (this lowlife animal cop) is that before he leaves he is looking for something so throws the couch cushions on the floor to find what he is missing. If you went into someone elses home and needed to find something and you make a mess of their couch would you just leave it that way? Only an animal would. Rude egotistical dingleberry = officer.

  • mendel

    Baruch Hashem there was a camera…now there is proof to the world that he is innocent!!! How evil of the first police to beat him like that!!!

  • had there been no camara

    he could have easily got jail time. now that there is a live video the tables have turned. just come to show that the justis sistem is in need of help. may hashem help rubashkin as its clear the abused the siystem. good for you Ehud. IF YOU GET MONEY OR NOT. MAY HASHEM BE WITH YOU AND ANYONE OUT THERE GETTING IN THE WORNG PLACE WITH NYPD

  • From England

    For once there was a camera present. All measures should be taken against the officers involved and publicly. These incidents happen more often than you may think (I, myself have been unnecessarily beaten and harassed by the Police- I also have met some wonderful examples of Police). The Officer(s) in question should not just be fired, but put on trail for assault. One rule for all…no one escapes the law.

  • NO NO NO

    JAIL WILL DO THE TRICK FOR THESE OFFICERS AND THE DEPARTMENT SHOULD HELP HEAL YOUR WOUNDS WITH AN INCENTIVE SO THAT THEY KEEP THEIR OFFICERS IN CHECK CONSTANTLY!!!