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Op-Ed: Cops Must Be Charged for Lying Under Oath

by Eliyahu Federman – Algemeiner

Illustration photo

A homeless man sleeping at a Jewish youth center in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, was roused from his sleep, wrongly accused of trespassing, then repeatedly and violently pummeled by the police after he jerked his hands and held them behind his back in an effort to non-violently avoid being handcuffed.

The homeless man was then falsely accused of causing the officer to suffer a “sprained wrist, bruises, swelling and scrapes” all resulting in the fabricated charges of “felony count of assault on police officers and three misdemeanors: resisting arrest, obstruction and criminal trespass.”

The following video shows police officer Luis A. Vega flying into an uncontrolled animalistic rage against the homeless Ehud Halevy while Officer Vega’s partner Yelena Bruzzese batters the non-threatening man with a truncheon. Any “sprained wrist, bruises, swelling and scrapes” on the officers were caused by their own violence and overreaction not Mr. Halevy’s conduct.

The lapse of judgment, fit of rage, on the part of the police is inexcusable, but what is even more shocking is what follows the vicious beating: a cold-hearted, fabricated police complaint accusing Mr. Halevy of crimes he never committed. Had a video not revealed the truth, Mr. Halevy could very easily be languishing in prison for crimes he never committed.

The complaint portrays a scenario that completely contradicts the video of the incident. The complaint boldly asserts that Mr. Halev was “swinging … [his] … fists and flailing … [his] … arms … striking …[the police] … about the body.” The video shows Mr. Halevy passively attempting to avoid being handcuffed after he jerks his hands in the air. The police then beat him while he’s curled up in a limp fetal position.

In terms of the charge of resisting arrest, New York Penal Law 205.30 requires that an arrest be authorized and lawful for one to be charged with the crime of resisting arrest. In other words, “[i]f the police made an unlawful arrest and you refuse to be handcuffed during that unauthorized arrest, then the charge of Resisting Arrest, pursuant to New York Penal Law 205.30, is not sustainable.” Since it was determined that Mr. Halevy was not trespassing, he cannot be charged with resisting a trespassing-related arrest because the underlying arrest was determined to be unlawful.

The charges against Mr. Halevy need to be summarily dismissed and the police officers involved need to be charged with lying under oath and falsely accusing someone of a crime. If not for the video camera replaying the truth, the officers’ lies could have led to the imprisonment of an innocent man and the cover-up of a brutal beating.

Let’s hope the NYPD seeks to restore their tattered relationship with the citizens of Crown Heights and hold their own rotten apples accountable.

The writer is a graduate of the City University of New York School of Law, where he served as an executive editor of the law review. He has advocated for gender equality, sexual abuse awareness and better police-community relations in Crown Heights.

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23 Comments

  • yocham

    The investigation takes us from the choreography of the Catholic Mass through religious directives on social behavior, the creation of sacred places for reflection, the virtues of pessimism and the therapeutic value of art. De Botton fluently identifies how religion traditionally addressed social needs before offering his own secular proposal for meeting them anew. For example, religion has traditionally provided a sense of community that can override divisions of class or income. We might therefore regain this sense of togetherness through rituals that mimic, say, the Eucharistic service. De Botton suggests a restaurant where “our fear of strangers would recede” and “the poor would eat with the rich.” And Jerusalem’s Wailing Wall might be replaced by electronic billboards “that would anonymously broadcast our inner woes,” thereby reminding us that “we are none of us alone in the extent of our troubles and our lamentations.”

  • Way to go Federman

    You are the first
    the voice of reason.
    arrest this officers NOW
    charge them and let the plea guilty and make a deal
    but more important reopen every case of this officers and every summons they issue for review.

  • about time

    this is more important then the beating, all the news outlets are only talking about the beating, what about the cops who filed a false police report.

    if it was a regular person and they filed a police report they would be jailed where is the PBA on this? this has nothing to do with resisting arrest

    we need to make sure this is known at fridays rally

  • couldn-t agree more

    In Jewish law, false witnesses are dished the same punishment that they seek to bring upon their victims. (aydim zomemin)

  • Joe

    chulum chulum chulum (dream!) They’ll never clean themselves up! Just ask whoever you know if they got ticketed for using a cell while driving even though they didn’t! It’s your word against his! He wins. They are the biggest mafia! As long as we are katzon latevach nechshavnu, we will languish. But wake up brothers! We should go out in force and protest for Rubashkin, or for MBP, or for anything! When we show we are b’achdus, we have a unified voice, We can have the cops arrested for a warning for all the other mafia cops. (trayvon martin is proof!, muslim video makers arrest is just another example.) When politicians see someone making noise, which is obviously not good for his publicity, he backs down. he pushes the da to “do something”.

  • nebach911caller Grossly distorted things

    ACTUAL FACTS:
    Turns out the supposed 911 caller was not a security guard & that the room was in-fact the designated sleeping-quarters for residents who need a shelter, & that Mr Halevy was authorized & had been residing there for 30+ days confirmed by (video footage) & by the center’s personnel
    the caller’s attempts to misrepresent the facts to the media will not be perused by the DA due to the caller’s mental-health-status.

    cop’s failure to even attempt to contact the ones in-charge of Aliya after Halevi told them “that this 911caller is actually ”not-in-charge-here nor security”
    Halevy even offered them how to reach the boss to verify & that there are available youth upstairs who can ascertain the facts of who is in-charge & that the center has never had a security-guard!

    instead the cop’s SADISTIC-URGE to beat someone to a pulp ASAP caused him to ignore all (training &) protocol, of avoiding antagonizing the accused or escalating before figuring out or consulting a Sargent

  • MJ

    Regularly scheduled 71st Precinct Community Council meeting (open to the public) in the school diagonal from the police station (NY & Empire) going on NOW! Please attend if you can.

  • Check!

    Police need to check their perceptions AND their prejudices! They need to understand the physical signals of cultures different from their own.That said, if we don’t see the story from the beginning, we do not actually know what went on. How did the whole thing begin? Who said what to whom? Did the police take time to understand what was actually going on before their actions? Are they prepped to know the culture in which they patrol?

  • SovietRussia

    Police brutality is unfortunately much more common then people think. Here is the list of citizens killed by PO in 2012. Many on this list were unarmed.

    http://www.youtube.com/watc…

    NO ONE IS ABOVE THE LAW. EACH COP THAT THINKS THE LAW WONT CATCH UP WITH THEM IS VERY WRONG!

  • Protection from The corrupt Police

    After reading comments on http://theerant.yuku.com I am convinced that racism and bigotry is not only common on the Police Force, it is rampant! The Police Force needs to do a much better job weeding out the racists and bigots.

    I’m not saying these racist bigot people aren’t entitled to their opinion. I just think they should work elsewhere, like the sanitation department.

    The Police are supposed to be working for us! we should have the power to fire them! There needs to be a 3 strikes law. Police who are caught making racist comments online and to people should automatically be fired.

    If you don’t care about people or you are a racist, do not become a police officer! We can’t prove racism or bigotry in this case, but after reading all these comments from Police Officers it certainly seems likely.

    New Yorkers need to say no more! Listen up police: YOU are here to serve the people. To the ones who appreciate that, we love you and appreciate you. To the rest: Get the Heck out of the force and find another job! (or don’t find another job, just get out!)

  • Judge Jury and Executioner

    Last time I checked, Your supposed to go to L & T court and prove your the Landlord before having a marshal evict. He obviously had a bed with belongings in the apartment which shows passive occupancy. Even if he was trespassing, and says he has permission, why not check out the story. Ask the “ Owner” for proof or where the owner can be reached. Who was he bothering? Some Dr.’s Son?

    In addition WE GOT TO STOP THE MESERA ON EACH OTHER.

  • I expect Better Then That

    Mr Federman,

    It was a lawful arrest. The security guard who is the agent for all matters related to security issues called the police. The second that they came and decided that he should be handcuffed (for whatever reason it may be. There happens to be eyewitnesses there saying that he threatened to punch the cop)he needed to follow protocol and go with them, and the second that he resisted arrest he committed a crime.

    PS: Putting someone in handcuffs does not mean that he is under arrest. As long as he is not brought to a holding cell and read his miranda rights, so Mr Federman, it may have been a good idea to have studied harder in Law School.

  • SovietRussia

    Police brutality is unfortunately much more common then people think. Here is the list of citizens killed by PO in 2012. Many on this list were unarmed.

    http://www.youtube.com/watc…

    NO ONE IS ABOVE THE LAW. EACH COP THAT THINKS THE LAW WONT CATCH UP WITH THEM IS VERY WRONG!

  • SWEET DREAMS

    FORGET ABOUT CLEANING UP THE POLICE FORCE. LET’S JUST WORRY ABOUT OUR NEIGHBORHOOD AND ITS PEOPLE NOT SUFFERING THE CONSEQUENCES OF “OUR PROTECTORS”…. THERE’S AN OLD BOOK (CAN PROBABLY STILL BE GOTTEN AT THE LIBRARY) CALLED SERPICO. hE WAS A COP ABOUT 30 YEARS AGO OR SO AND BECAUSE HE WAS AN HONEST COP AND COULDN’T TOLERATE ALL THE CROOKEDNESS GOING ON IN THE PRECINT AND TRIED TO UNCOVER IT AND CORRECT IT, THERE WERE SEVERAL ATTEMPTS AT HIS LIFE BY THE OTHER CORRUPT COPS. UNTIL THEY NEARLY KILLED HIM AND THAT’S WHEN HE REALIZED HE CAN’T WIN AND JUST DROPPED OUT OF THE WONDERFUL POLICE FORCE, ALL WE CAN TRY FOR IS FAIRER TREATMENT AND LESS VICIOUSNESS AND MAYBE FOR GOOD MEASURE A LITTLE MORE (THAN THE NOTHING WE NOW GET) ACTUAL PROTECTION.

  • anonymouse riter

    i got it! hey are all either noe nazis yemach shmom or anti semites and will do anything to get rid of us