{"active":false,"first_name":"Eric","last_name":"Harsch","race":"White","gender":"Male","rank":"POM","command":{"command":"043 PCT","id":"43pct"},"shield_no":30956,"ended_date":"2007-02-22","taxid":"891611","complaint_ids":[200614824,200607248,200407804,200406005,200310162,200003792,9302493,9301373,9101881,9001482,8902840,8901643,8801359],"command_history":[{"command":"105 PCT","id":"105pct"}],"appt_date":"1987-01-20","lawsuits":[{"name":"Hatchett, Andre vs City of New York, et al.","start_date":"2017-03-16","disposition_date":"2017-12-17","payout_amount":12250000,"disposition":"Settlement","docket":"17CV01324","court":"U.S. District Court - Eastern District NY","officer_name":"Harsch, Eric","summary":"On February 18, 1991, at 11:00 p.m., the dead body of Neda Mae Carter was found naked and severely beaten in a park in Brooklyn. P.O. Michael Zanatta, along with Detectives Richard Fergerson, Victor Rice, Robert Donawa, Derrick Park, Lloyd Henry, and P.O. Harsch were assigned to the case. Their first canvass of the area turned up nothing. Detective Ferguson learned that the day of the murder, Mr. Andre Hatchett had visited the victim's home. On February 20, Mr. Hatchett voluntarily came to the 81st Precinct for an interview. A year prior, Mr. Hatchett was shot several times in the neck and leg. As a result of his bone grafts, metal pins, and various complications, Mr. Hatchett was on crutches on the time on doctor's orders. Mr. Hatchett is additionally cognitively limited; his IQ is in the range of 58 to 66. On February 20, he explained that he had loaned money to the victim to purchase crack cocaine. He also gave a truthful, verifiable alibi for the time of the murder. Lacking evidence, Detectives Fergerson and Rice released Mr. Hatchett. \n\nOn February 25, 1991, Mr. Jerry Williams was arrested and identified Mr. James Pringle as the man who he saw kill Neda Mae Carter. The detectives learned that was impossible, as Mr. Pringle was in prison. Nonetheless, they arranged for Mr. Williams to identify Mr. Hatchett in a lineup by disclosing identifying information to Mr. Williams ahead of time and offering Mr. Williams, a career criminal, leniency on his charges. Given the serious unreliability of Mr. Williams' identification, the King's County District Attorney's Office declined to prosecute at that time. \n\nOn March 16, 1991, Detectives Fergerson and Donawa located a crack user Yvette Hopkins, nicknamed \"Popeye,\" which was similar to the nickname of a purported friend of Mr. Williams (nicknamed \"Pi-Pi\") who they believed was present at the time of the crime. On both March 16 and March 17, Ms. Hopkins denied knowing Mr. Williams or having any knowledge of the homicide. The third time the detectives interviewed her, they had fed her details consistent with Mr. Williams' false statement. On March 26, the Detectives arrested Mr. Hatchett at his apartment, ignoring his requests for a lawyer and failing to provide him with a Miranda warning. At a lineup that day, Ms. Hopkins failed to identify Mr. Hatchett in a lineup; Detective Fergerson brought the lineup closer to the window and Ms. Hopkins identified Mr. Hatchett on her second try. On March 26, Mr. Hatchett was arrested. He remained incarcerated for 25 years before the King's County District Attorney's Office Conviction Review Unit reviewed his case in 2015 and 2016 and concluded that he was wrongfully convicted. Among other things, given his considerable physical disabilities at the time, it would have been literally impossible for him to commit the incredibly strenuous acts required to commit the crime, a basic fact the officers intentionally overlooked.","documents":[{"url":"https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nyed.398406.1.0.pdf","type":"complaint"}],"url":"https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/6163480/hatchett-v-city-of-new-york/"}],"id":"5KH8","url":"https://www.50-a.org/officer/5KH8"}