{"active":false,"first_name":"Eugene","last_name":"Choi","race":"Asian","gender":"Male","rank":"PO","command":{"command":"024 PCT","assignment_date":"2019-07-22","id":"24pct"},"shield_no":3654,"ended_date":"2026-07-01","taxid":"941552","complaint_ids":[202511220,202309476,202002217,201707189,201700423,201603913,201309842,201107796],"appt_date":"2006-07-10","age":40,"lawsuits":[{"name":"Shirley, Benjamin vs City of Ny, et al.","start_date":"2023-11-14","disposition_date":"2024-04-08","payout_amount":0,"disposition":"Zero Disposition","docket":"23CV09696","court":"U.S. District Court - Southern District NY","summary":"On March 8, 2020, around midnight, Plaintiff, a Black dentist, was lawfully present at the premises of the dental office he owned. Plaintiff exited the office to discard the office’s trash in the building’s designated area and reentered his office using his keys. Defendant officers Thomas Lee and Eugene Choi observed this and without justification, reasonable suspicion, or probable cause, began shining their flashlights inside the window and onto Plaintiff’s face, temporarily blinding and disorienting him. Defendant officers accessed the building’s intercom system and demanded Plaintiff exit the premises and show identification. Plaintiff called 911 and the dispatcher talked down to him then disconnected him. The dispatcher then called NYPD’s Internal Affairs Bureau (IAB) and was connected to Defendant Officer Keith Guzzetta. The dispatcher and Officer Guzzetta made fun of Plaintiff. Defendant Officers Kevin Cameron and Thomas Sjoberg were dispatched to the general area after the 911 call. Officers Lee, Choi, Cameron, and Thomas began to repeatedly demand Plaintiff to show proof of lawful presence on the premises and that they needed to verify Plaintiff’s identity while shining their flashlights in Plaintiff’s face, temporarily blinding him and disorienting him.","documents":[{"url":"https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nysd.609606/gov.uscourts.nysd.609606.1.0.pdf","type":"complaint"}],"url":"https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/67948110/shirley-v-city-of-new-york/"},{"name":"Shirley, Benjamin vs City of Ny, et al.","start_date":"2021-05-26","payout_amount":0,"disposition":"","docket":"154769/2021","court":"Supreme Court - New York","summary":"On May 14, 2018, dentist Plaintiff was on the sidewalk abutting his place of work  when POs Fitzgerald and Celenza approached, stopped, questioned, and detained him without justification. The POs lied about the reason for the stop, and when they saw that Plaintiff was videotaping the encounter, PO Celenza covered his badge and shined his flashlight in Plaintiff's face. During the encounter, the POs repeatedly refused to identify themselves and repeatedly laughed at Plaintiff. When the POs left the scene, they nearly struck Plaintiff with their vehicle.\n\nTwo years, later, starting on the evening of March 8, 2020, Plaintiff exited his place of work to take out the trash. After POs Lee and Choi observed him reenter the premises using his keys, the POs approached the ground floor premises and began shining their flashlights inside and onto Plaintiff. The POs then, without justification, used the building's intercom to summon Plaintiff, demanding his identification and otherwise intimidating them. Plaintiff feared for his life, so he called 911. The 911 dispatcher refused to help Plaintiff, admonishing him. The dispatcher then called the Internal Affairs Bureau and was connected to PO Guzzetta, who proceeded to laugh at Plaintiff with the 911 dispatcher despite knowing that new POs were lawfully present at the premises. POs Cameron and Sjoberg were dispatched to the area after Plaintiff called 911. All of the POs in the area then joined together to harass Plaintiff, repeatedly asking for his identification, taking pictures of him, toggling the power on their body cams, and threatening him.","documents":[{"url":"https://iapps.courts.state.ny.us/nyscef/ViewDocument?docIndex=Po5dYxgaQHrr3y6c_PLUS_wAnGQ==","type":"complaint"}]},{"name":"Paulini, Ethan, et al. vs City of New York, et al.","start_date":"2015-11-06","disposition_date":"2017-06-28","payout_amount":62502,"disposition":"Settlement","docket":"15CV07059","court":"U.S. District Court - Southern District NY","officer_name":"Choi, Eugene","summary":"On September 11, 2014, Plaintiffs Sajous and Paulini hailed a cab on the corner of West 13th Street and 7th Avenue to go uptown driven by Defendant Adolph. Adolph took city streets for about twenty blocks and had to stop frequently for red lights. Sajous asked the driver to take the Westside Highway, but Adolph responded, \"No.\" Sajous responded that she believed it was against the law for a taxi driver to refuse a request route. Adolph responded, \"I don't have to do anything for a Nigger,\" to which Paulini said, \"What did you say?\" The driver, in a much louder voice, then said, \"Now the Faggot got something to say.\" Plaintiffs immediately asked the driver to pull over and let them out, but he refused. Plaintiffs continue to protest, but the driver locked the doors. While stopped at a red light on the corner of 96th Street and Central Park West, Paulini unlocked the door, put one foot on the street, and told Sajous to get out and wait on the corner. The fare was approximately $19.50, and Paulini handed Adolph a $20.00 bill. Adolph refused to accept it, stating that since Plaintiffs made him trek all the way uptown, he was going to take them to their final destination to get the full fare. He said he was not inclined to pick up a fare going downtown from a \"filthy Nigger neighborhood.\" The driver eventually took the money, and Paulini requested a receipt, which the driver refused. Paulini said he would not get out until Adolph gave him a receipt. Eventually, Adolph gave them a receipt, told them he was going to call the police, and said, \"Who would believe a Nigger and a Faggot?\" Paulini exited the cab with the receipt showing payment of the fare. Paulini and Sajous proceeded toa nearby subway, paid the faire, waited on the platform. Four uniformed police officers, including Choi, Delrosario, Polanca, and Mitchell, came walking toward them and asked them to come upstairs. Adolph appeared at the top of the stairs and proceeded to berate Plaintiffs. Paulini offered a $20 bill, saying, \"Here if this makes you go away, please take it.\" Adolph took it, and Paulini said to Adolph and the officers that he had now paid twice. To show the receipt, Paulini put his hands in his pockets to retrieve it, and one of the Officers told him to never do that around an officer and handcuffed him. Paulini apologized and explained, and the Officer shoved him in the back of a police car. Paulini began recording on his cellphone in his pocket. Sajous asked why the officers were arrest Paulini and then she was handcuffed and placed in the police car as well. They were taken to the 24th Precinct. When Paulini later recovered his phone after pleading not guilty, he saw that the photos of the taxi medallion and recording had been deleted, but he had not deleted them. All charges against Plaintiffs were dismissed in November 2014.","documents":[{"url":"https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nysd.447147/gov.uscourts.nysd.447147.7.0.pdf","type":"complaint"}],"url":"https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/13346923/paulini-v-the-city-of-new-york/"},{"name":"Kelly, Christopher, et al. vs City of New York, et al.","start_date":"2015-04-23","disposition_date":"2018-11-18","payout_amount":342001,"disposition":"Settlement","docket":"15CV00053","court":"U.S. District Court - Southern District NY","officer_name":"Choi, Eugene","summary":"On October 9, 2013, plaintiffs (husband and wife) were engaged in a serious discussion in their bedroom.  Around midnight, the wife wished to end the conversation and commented that she was going to jump out of the apartment window.  She wasn't being serious, but her husband mistook the gravity of her comment and called 911.  The operator had already answered before he realized he had misinterpreted her statement and informed the 911 operator that there had been a misunderstanding and that help was not needed.  Shortly afterward, P.O. Eugene Choi and other unnamed officers showed up at their apartment door.  The husband went to answer the door and said he preferred they didn't enter the apartment because his wife and three small children were sleeping inside.  P.O. Choi didn't let him close the door and indicated that he would be arrested.  Two of the other officers then grabbed him by the arms and head and forcibly pulled him into the hallway.  P.O. Choi began to beat plaintiff over the head with a hard object and the other officers began punching and kicking him all over.  They slammed him into the floor and stood on his arms and kicked him in his back, legs, and shoulders.  Plaintiff began to feel blood running down the back of his head.  One officer choked him from behind, and at one point his glasses were broken by the impact of the blows.  One of the officers also began repeatedly tasering his back.  The officers placed him in both handcuffs and leg shackles and began shoving him back and forth.  He was already injured and in pain and the twisting and shoving exacerbating the already severe pain in his shoulders.  Plaintiff repeatedly expressed that he felt as if his shoulders were being pulled out of socket but the assault did not stop and none of the officers intervened.  The officers laughed at, made fun of, cursed at, and humiliated plaintiff throughout the assault. \n\nWhen the assault began, one of the officer defendants entered the residence without permission.  The officer forced plaintiff's wife into a chair and handcuffed her, while she could hear her husband calling her name from the hallway.  She repeatedly asked the officers to close a door in the apartment so that her sleeping children would not wake up, but the officers ignored her requests.  The officers insisted that plaintiff's wife be taken to the hospital for a psychiatric evaluation against her will.  When she refused, an officer threatened to take away her children.  A male officer then followed her to her bedroom and watched her remove her pajamas and dress herself to go to the hospital.  The officers and paramedic crew escorted her out of the apartment and into the hallways, where she saw her husband handcuffed, bloodied, and bruised in the hallway.  Upon arrival at the hospital, one of the officers told the wife that he would wait for her to escort her home after she saw a doctor, but after the evaluation, she realized the officer had left her in an unfamiliar neighborhood in the middle of the night without any phone or money.  Her husband was then transported to a hospital against his will and was treated for many injuries.  At the hospital, he overheard officers attempting to fabricate a story that would account for his severe injuries.  He continued hearing the officers trying to align their stories while he was in a holding cell at the precinct.  Plaintiff was charged with obstructing governmental administration and resisting arrest.  He was granted an adjournment in contemplation of dismissal on January 30, 2014, and the charges against him were dismissed approximately six months later.  Both husband and wife had to continue receiving extensive medical and psychiatric care for the physical and emotional injuries stemming from the incident.","documents":[{"url":"https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nysd.436864.1.0.pdf","type":"complaint"}],"url":"https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/4354631/kelly-v-city-of-new-york/"}],"discipline":[{"disposition_date":"2022-03-07","case_no":"2022-24799","penalty":"Vacation days (3 days)","charges":[{"desc":"-","disposition":"Guilty"}]},{"recommendation":"Other","allegations":[{"desc":"Failed to timely activate their body worn camera."}]}],"documents":[{"url":"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/24682206-941552_03152024_2024026pdf","date":"2024-03-15T00:00:00.000Z","type":"trial-decision"},{"url":"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/22085462-seh_941552","type":"employment-history"}],"image":"https://www.50-a.org/images/officer/9T7F-eugene-choi.jpg","news":[{"url":"https://hellgatenyc.com/ccrb-tossing-cases-of-lying-cops/","title":"The NYPD's Watchdog Is Tossing Out Lying Cop Cases—Then 'Hiding' the Data From the Public","source":"Hellgate","date":"2025-10-08"}],"id":"9T7F","url":"https://www.50-a.org/officer/9T7F"}