{"active":false,"first_name":"Sulman","last_name":"Zaheer","race":"Asian","gender":"Male","rank":"SGT","command":{"command":"LEG BUR","assignment_date":"2022-07-25","id":"166"},"shield_no":5268,"ended_date":"2025-10-01","taxid":"932122","complaint_ids":[202200050],"command_history":[{"command":"072 PCT","id":"72pct"}],"appt_date":"2003-07-01","shield_no_history":[26580],"lawsuits":[{"name":"Fortune, Ian vs Espinal, Edwin, et al.","start_date":"2017-07-13","disposition_date":"2020-02-03","payout_amount":75000,"disposition":"Settlement","docket":"503911/2017","court":"Supreme Court - Kings","officer_name":"Zaheer, Sulman","summary":"On February 27, 2014, Plaintiff was arrested, imprisoned, and searched without legal cause or justification. He was arrested in connection with a burglary that had occurred months prior and was already familiar with the precinct, as he had previously been unlawfully arrested by its officers. On August 4, 2013, Plaintiff was arrested by Defendant Officers Edwin Espinal, Erick Flores, and Elvis Merizalde for a crime he did not commit and was later acquitted for. In response to this incident, Plaintiff made complaints to the Internal Affairs Bureau of the NYPD and the Civilian Complaint Review Board. \n\nA few months later, a burglary occurred at a laundromat, and Officer Espinal was assigned to investigate the crime. Officer Espinal retrieved a video from the crime scene, but the footage was of poor resolution, very grainy, and made it difficult to identify the faces of the perpetrators. Feeling pressured to find the criminals, Officer Espinal implicated a woman with a prior history of criminal activity in the district, along with the Plaintiff, in retaliation for the complaints Plaintiff had made. The other Defendants, Officer Flores, Officer Merizalde, Officer Myles McKenna, Lieutenant Nicholas Fiore, Sergeant Sulman Zaheer, and Detective Spencer of the 72nd Precinct Detective Squad, either participated in fabricating evidence to implicate the Plaintiff, assisted in his false arrest, and/or failed to intervene to prevent his prosecution despite knowing he was innocent. The Defendants arrested the woman and coerced her into falsely accusing the Plaintiff of committing the burglary alongside her. Officer Flores also falsely claimed he recognized the Plaintiff in the video, despite the poor quality of the video. Defendants provided the District Attorney with false, misleading, and incomplete evidence, leading to Plaintiff being charged for crimes he did not commit. Plaintiff was held in custody for 29 hours prior to his arraignment. Ultimately, the District Attorney moved to dismiss the charges. As a result of the Defendants’ actions, Plaintiff suffered physical, economic, psychological, and emotional injuries.","documents":[{"url":"https://iapps.courts.state.ny.us/nyscef/ViewDocument?docIndex=s8feGrxl2Bj7zpaOUDn71g==","type":"complaint"},{"url":"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/4927829-Fortune-v-City-of-New-York-et-al"}]}],"documents":[{"url":"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/24441170-bronx-notified-officers-list-edited_redacted-redacted_redacted","type":"credibility-finding"},{"url":"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/4418979-nypd-cases-387.html"}],"id":"8S3R","url":"https://www.50-a.org/officer/8S3R"}