Police Brutality New York City

The city has approved a $9-million settlement with a Haitian immigrant who was tortured in a police station, seeking to close an ugly chapter in the history of the nation's largest police department. Under the tentative deal, Abner Louima would receive payment from the city and the Police Benevolent Assn. but would drop his demand that the New York Police Department changes how it deals with officers accused of abuse, sources close to the case said Thursday. Mayor Rudolph W.

After nearly three years behind bars, a white former police officer whose conviction in the torture of Abner Louima was thrown out on appeal was freed on $1-million bail Thursday to await a new trial. U.S. District Judge Reena Raggi agreed to release 36-year-old Charles Schwarz but restricted him to New York City. The bail was secured with his mother's house. "Today's a great day.

Defense lawyers for the remaining four New York police officers accused in the beating of a Haitian immigrant rested Tuesday after none of the defendants chose to testify in the racially charged case. Attorneys for defendants Charles Schwarz, Thomas Bruder, Thomas Wiese and Michael Bellomo renewed motions to have the case thrown out because of insufficient evidence. U.S. District Judge Eugene Nickerson denied the motions. Closing arguments were expected today.

A federal judge rejected a police officer's bid for a new trial, saying there was no proof that prosecutors suppressed evidence that would have cleared him in the jailhouse beating of immigrant Abner Louima. Judge Eugene Nickerson found there was no basis to conclude the government did not share evidence with lawyers for Officer Charles Schwarz, 36.

A white former police officer was sentenced to 30 years in prison Monday for torturing a Haitian immigrant with a broken broomstick in one of the most shocking acts of police brutality New York has ever seen. Justin Volpe, 27, who pleaded guilty to violating the victim's civil rights, could have gotten life without parole for the 1997 attack. "I hurt many people. I was and still am ashamed. . . . I am extremely sorry," Volpe told U.S. District Judge Eugene Nickerson.

In what New York police and community leaders are calling a case of unfortunate timing, CBS is preparing to launch a drama about a fictional Brooklyn police precinct and accusations of police brutality at the same time that a real-life Brooklyn police precinct has been hit with charges of brutality. Police officials expressed concern this week that the characters and situations portrayed on "Brooklyn South," which is scheduled to premiere Sept.

The first day of jury deliberations in the Abner Louima police brutality case ended without a verdict. The jury, which is deciding whether four police officers violated Louima's civil rights by beating him or by covering up the crime, will return Monday to resume deliberations. Officer Charles Schwarz is accused of violating Louima's civil rights by holding him down in a Brooklyn station house while Officer Justin Volpe sodomized him with a broom handle.

Jury selection began in the trial of four white officers accused of torturing a Haitian immigrant. Civil rights activists and the defendants were absent as prospective jurors were ushered into federal court in Brooklyn, N.Y., to fill out a long questionnaire on what they know about the beating of Abner Louima. Four officers are accused of violating Louima's civil rights by abusing him after his arrest in 1997.

The judge in the city's police torture case rejected motions for a mistrial and told the jury that the trial will go on without the officer who pleaded guilty the day before. U.S. District Judge Eugene Nickerson told jurors that Justin Volpe's plea of guilty to violating the civil rights of a Haitian immigrant shouldn't be used as evidence against the remaining four officers charged.

In fiery opening arguments for a trial that has put the city on edge, federal prosecutors charged Tuesday that five white police officers viciously beat a Haitian immigrant while he was in custody, and then sodomized him with a broken broom handle in the bathroom of a Brooklyn police station. Calling the alleged 1997 attack on Abner Louima "cruel," "unspeakable" and "humiliating," prosecutors said they had ample evidence to prove the officers had violated the security guard's civil rights.

Abner Louima, the Haitian immigrant tortured with a broken broomstick in a police station bathroom in 1997, received an $8.7-million settlement in one of the nation's most notorious police brutality cases. "I don't really see myself as a rich man," Louima said. "I see myself as someone who's lucky to be alive and able to see some justice." The settlement came after months of tense negotiations with the city and its police union. Louima was arrested four years ago outside a Brooklyn nightclub.

The city has approved a $9-million settlement with a Haitian immigrant who was tortured in a police station, seeking to close an ugly chapter in the history of the nation's largest police department. Under the tentative deal, Abner Louima would receive payment from the city and the Police Benevolent Assn. but would drop his demand that the New York Police Department changes how it deals with officers accused of abuse, sources close to the case said Thursday. Mayor Rudolph W.

A white former police officer was sentenced to 30 years in prison Monday for torturing a Haitian immigrant with a broken broomstick in one of the most shocking acts of police brutality New York has ever seen. Justin Volpe, 27, who pleaded guilty to violating the victim's civil rights, could have gotten life without parole for the 1997 attack. "I hurt many people. I was and still am ashamed. . . . I am extremely sorry," Volpe told U.S. District Judge Eugene Nickerson.

The fatal shooting by New York City police of a man alleged to have hit a sergeant with a hammer brought a fresh round of criticism Tuesday for a department already accused of brutality in several cases. Police responding to a complaint at a Brooklyn apartment fired about a dozen bullets Monday night at 31-year-old Gideon Basch, striking him in the torso several times and killing him.

Two plainclothes police officers were indicted Monday on federal charges of lying to authorities investigating the torture of a Haitian immigrant in a police station bathroom. Rolando Aleman, 28, and Francisco Rosario, 34, were decorated members of the roving Street Crime Unit who were booking a gun suspect at the precinct at the time of the assault on Abner Louima on Aug. 9, 1997. During questioning, they "repeatedly lied and misled the federal government about what they saw in the station house that morning," said prosecutor Alan Vingrad.

Concluding a landmark police violence case, a New York officer was convicted Tuesday of holding a Haitian immigrant down in a precinct bathroom while another officer tortured him with a broomstick. But a federal jury acquitted three other officers charged in the explosive case.

Supporters of a Haitian immigrant whom a New York police officer allegedly sexually brutalized one year ago held a prayer vigil. Meanwhile, a report said a legal dispute could delay the case from coming to trial. The rally and prayer vigil for Abner Louima was sparsely attended, with supporters, press and police present in almost equal numbers. Louima, a former security guard, was allegedly beaten and then sodomized with a stick by an officer after being arrested outside a Brooklyn nightclub.

A Haitian immigrant allegedly beaten by police spent his first full day out of the hospital, sitting with his children and enjoying a home-cooked meal. Abner Louima was under heavy security after his Friday night departure from the Brooklyn Hospital Center, said his attorney, Brian Figeroux. Louima, 30, still requires round-the-clock nursing care and has a colostomy bag, Figeroux said. He had been hospitalized since he was allegedly beaten and sodomized with a broomstick Aug.

The first day of jury deliberations in the Abner Louima police brutality case ended without a verdict. The jury, which is deciding whether four police officers violated Louima's civil rights by beating him or by covering up the crime, will return Monday to resume deliberations. Officer Charles Schwarz is accused of violating Louima's civil rights by holding him down in a Brooklyn station house while Officer Justin Volpe sodomized him with a broom handle.

Defense lawyers for officers accused in the beating of a Haitian immigrant accused prosecutors Thursday of using the improper actions of one cop to paint a portrait of widespread police abuse that does not exist. The case "was not about a culture of police brutality. . . . It was about one sick, depraved individual and the acts he committed," said lawyer Stephen Worth in his closing argument.