Drug Suspect Turns Tables On NYPD With Videotape

CBS 2 CHICAGO ^ | 13 JUNE 2009 | AP

[Extremely Extreme Extremist]

Brothers Arrested On Charges Of Selling Drugs; Surveillance Tape Contradicts Police Claims; Investigation Leads To Arrest Of 2 Officers, $10 Million Lawsuit

NEW YORK (AP) ―

When undercover detectives busted Jose and Maximo Colon last year for selling cocaine at a seedy club in Queens, there was a glaring problem: The brothers hadn't done anything wrong.

But proclaiming innocence wasn't going to be good enough. The Dominican immigrants needed proof.

"I sat in the jail and thought ... how could I prove this? What could I do?" Jose, 24, recalled in Spanish during a recent interview.

As he glanced around a holding cell, the answer came to him: Security cameras. Since then, a vindicating video from the club's cameras has spared the brothers a possible prison term, resulted in two officers' arrest and become the basis for a multimillion-dollar lawsuit.

[Tuketu]

Justice for all.

[Dallas59]

Weed the bad out....

[pray4liberty]

So who was selling the drugs? The cops?

[ThreePuttinDude]

CBS 2 CHICAGO
reporting about a drug bust in New York.

thats rather ironic.....

[hoosiermama]

Maybe they’re connected....same cartel?

[allmost]

Many innocent people without video evidence are still incarcerated no doubt. I'm not bashing LEOs. It is clear that many rarely effectively police themselves until it's so blatant.

[Gay State Conservative]

Yes,fire the cops.Charge the cops.Sue them,individually.But unless the cops have a documented history of bringing false charges against innocent people there should be **NO** lawsuits against the City or State of New York.

[nufsed]

Any cop or DA who actually does this should serve the time the suspects would have served had they been guilty.

[Lancey Howard]

there should be **NO** lawsuits against the City or State of New York.

Dream on.
Scumbag lawyers ALWAYS go after the "deep pockets".
And, of course, it's ALWAYS the taxpayers left grabbing their ankles.

[clee1]

Nope, sorry.

Police are literally “officers” of the City - their direct, street-level representatives, if you will.

The City IS responsible for everything their representatives do. The cops involved should be fired and jailed, and ALL their supervisors should be terminated and pensions revoked, due to their failure to properly supervise their people.

[Gay State Conservative]

Dream on.

Oh,I know that there *will* be a lawsuit.Some filthy lawyer will read this story and think that he's just won the lottery.What I'm saying is that unless the NYPD had reason to see these guys as "bad apples" there should be no lawsuits against the city *allowed* under law.Suits against the individual cops would be fine,however....as would criminal charges.

[Secret Agent Man]

They also need jail time for this. It has to be severe because there needs to be a huge penalty for officers that even consider doing this kind of crap. It makes everyone lose trust in the police even though most are good.

[CurlyDave]

What I'm saying is that unless the NYPD had reason to see these guys as "bad apples" there should be no lawsuits against the city *allowed* under law.Suits against the individual cops would be fine,however....as would criminal charges.

The problem with your line of reasoning is that the NYPD didn't see these guys as "bad apples" because they didn't look very hard.

Oh, they will tell you that they have internal investigators and such, but for the most part they simple know not to look very hard for corruption because if they do they will find it.

Having to make big payouts to the very few defendants who can come up with absolute proof of innocence sends a message to the brass that they should look harder for the bad ones.

[Gay State Conservative]

They also need jail time for this.

Yes,as I said....I have no problem at all with them being charged.

[Lancey Howard]

there should be no lawsuits against the city *allowed* under law

I agree completely, but that can never happen. The rats are bought and paid for by the scumbag "jackpot justice" lawyer lobby, and the rats would never allow their benefactors to get shut off from taxpayer dollars.

Do you know how much health care money could be saved if the scumbag "jackpot justice" lawyers and their lawsuits were reined in? Astronomical... But again, the rats will never let that happen.

[secretagent]

FYI

[samtheman]

there should be **NO** lawsuits against the City or State of New York

I would agree with you except for the fact that one of these 2 guys owned a convenience store and lost his business licenses as a result of this false arrest... even after the charges were dropped.

Maybe not sue the city but make the idiot bureaucrat who did that support this guy and his family for the rest of his life.

[Gay State Conservative]

The problem with your line of reasoning is that the NYPD didn't see these guys as "bad apples" because they didn't look very hard.....Having to make big payouts to the very few defendants who can come up with absolute proof of innocence sends a message to the brass that they should look harder for the bad ones.

So what's a police department supposed to do? Daily drug/alcohol screening? Daily polygraph exams? Apart from the usual steps how far is the department required to go to ensure that none of their officers are even guilty of jaywalking or littering?

[DieHard the Hunter]

$10 Million seems a bit steep for reparations, but if it includes an element of punitive damages that might teach the cops a lesson or two.

Both cops should be suspended without pay and have the book thrown at them. Nothing less than 10 years in the can.