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Posted on 06/28/2008 8:16:57 PM PDT by ellery
NYPD Investigating Incident, Officers Placed On Modified Duty
NEW YORK (CBS) -- Undercover police officers who arrested four men on drug charges are under investigation after surveillance video proved the men they arrested committed no crime.
Drug charges against brothers Jose Colon and Maximo Colon, along with two of their friends have been dropped.
The undercover NYPD officers are seen on video dancing in the street, then attempting to frame four innocent men.
"I asked police officer why are you arresting me," said Maximo Colon. "Never did I get an answer."
The investigators swore under oath they bought drugs from the four men. Jose and Maximo colon say that didn't happen.
"The cops are supposed to help us," said a shaken Jose Colon.
Defense lawyers say the surveillance cameras proved their clients were framed.
"It was nauseating," said defense lawyer Rochelle Berliner.
Two hours of video showed no contact at all between the four men arrested and undercover officers - proof that lead prosecutors to drop charges against the four men, and even declare in court the men did not commit the crime.
Defense lawyers say it's disturbing but not uncommon.
"As defense attorneys you know it exists more often than government wants you to believe," said Brad Wolk.
In the 6 months it took to clear the Colon brothers names, they lost their business and their savings.
As a result of his ordeal, Maximo Colon has lost trust in police officers.
The two men are now involved in a civil suit against the city and hope to one day rebuild their lives.
The NYPD is investigating the officers involved in this incident. Two of the officers are reportedly on modified duty.
This has everything to do with the war on drugs.
Crooked cops don't make false felony arrests of strangers for the fun of it. They make false felony arrests because they're paid to do it - that's what makes them crooked. And what other criminal enterprise has so many millions of dollars at stake to buy cops in as partners?
Other than the war on drugs there are no easy felonies to plant. Accuse someone of murder, you need a body. Of grand theft, you need goods. Of drug possession? You need one untraceable crumb that disappears between two fingers and can be planted on anyone.
Like he said. Another WOD victory.
Reference bump!
Exactly. It’s why I’ve long come to the conclusion that all laws against mere possession must be stricken off the books.
With felonies like murder, etc it also helps to have motive, eyewitnesses, other forms of trace evidence, perhaps a criminal record to indicate you might be a good suspect...
I’d also add that the entire approach of a Prohibition mindset and militarizing police has come to mean more cavalier approaches to framing up innocent men, whether out of pure evil or a belief that the suspect is ultimately guilty of whatever.
Police can gun down a very old lady in Atlanta and THEN PLANT DRUGS to protect themselves because of the drug war. It’s us against them, in their mind and increasingly in ours. It’s the Drug War that has dogs sniffing around public schools and where kids are lined up against halls while cops have guns drawn and running an Iraq-style roundup(but with less humanity and professionalism than our troops)
Only her age saved that old lady’s public character, if a 30 year old man is shot down by crooked or mistaken cops, his reputation will be smeared after his death because all it takes is to drop a baggie of weed somewhere and he becomes Al Capone in the public’s mind.
I have never had a bad experience with the NYPD. This probably has everything to do with being white and not poor. I feel that I can reasonably expect not to have any unpleasant interactions with them if I continue to mind my own business. A man who is black or Latino and lives in a poor neighborhood would never have the same confidence, no matter how blameless his life. The police have quotas. I am sure that NYC is like any other American city in this regard.
First mistake is to believe that.
Yes, but I think heroin, and other drugs of that caliber, should always be illegal. That it is such a persecuted substance must keep people from trying it, even if it also causes a lot of crime. In the end, I feel that when something is that destructive and poisonous, mere possession of it should be a big deal for the deterrant effect.
They will never make it there. They are part of the elite and the power club.
Note that even now the article says the cops are only on “modified duty.” No charges against them.
Right.
They aren't. Judges are the same in the state of Washington. Can't say I've encountered even one who isn't corrupt.
Any cop who tries to put an innocent person in jail must be given the same penalty that the innocent person would have suffered.
They were just standing outside in a bad neighborhood. NYPD cops rolled up and were standing around for hours trying to decide what crime to charge them with. One of the cops was violent and kicked my friend while he was handcuffed on the ground.
The cops settled on “auto stripping” after they noticed a vandalized car close by. Luckily, the owner of the car gave a statement and the case was dismissed instantly. Of course, there were no videos so the cops walked scott free.
Now, imagine if the owner was away or gone and couldn't testify? The car looked abandoned and the cops were surely betting on that.
I lived and worked in NYC for 57 years. I don’t think I’d had three dozen interactions of any sort with the police in my entire time there. Now, maybe things have changed drastically in the six years since I left, but the NYPD was a pretty good force then. There always were, are now and will be bad cops. When you have a force of 35-40K they will be in the mix. Too bad you didn’t know the pre-Knapp Commission NYPD. You might appreciate just how professional the force is as a whole.
As I said above, in a force of 35-40K bad apples get through. If 1/1000th are bad, that’s 35 cops...one story every ten days for a year. That would make the force appear terrible, but it would be far, far from a majority.
IMO, whenever you have group of cops doing wrong as a group, the problem lies with the command.
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If they really framed them, as this story suggest, I can’t believe they are still on the force, they should be in prison.
What a silly thing to say.
I'd put major cash on them never seeing a day in jail, or even being prosecuted.
This next line tells the whole story, disgusting as it is... "The NYPD is investigating the officers involved in this incident. Two of the officers are reportedly on modified duty."
Modified Duty? and only two of them? Four officers swore to the buy that never happened. Four officers should be behind bars with a girlfriend named Bubba.
Yup. What this tells you is that the entire organization is irredeemably rotten to the core.
The sad thing is that you'll find plenty of folks here who will reflexively defend these scum with badges.
I don't buy those paricular statistics. That would be a 100% turnover of the corrupt cops every year. I think the discovery rate is much lower than 100% and the lifetime of a corrupt operator before discovery is much longer than one year.
Whoops!
Oh well, as long as we are invested in having the drug war we have to expect things like this.
There are innocents in prison?
Not from what I’ve read around here. Especially if they are accused of an awful crime like child molestation. Them, around here (and to be fair just about everywhere in society) they are not only guilty as hell but they should basically be executed by the prison inmates upon arrival. Before or after the trial, it doesn’t really make a difference.
Sometimes to satisfy bloodlust you have to break a few eggs.
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