{"active":false,"first_name":"William","last_name":"Ubieta","race":"Hispanic","gender":"Male","rank":"DT2","command":{"command":"FORCEID","assignment_date":"2016-06-12","id":"130"},"shield_no":4277,"ended_date":"2022-12-05","taxid":"916828","complaint_ids":[200308539,200207721],"command_history":[{"command":"070 PCT","id":"70pct"}],"appt_date":"1995-06-30","middle_initial":"M","shield_no_history":[7859],"lawsuits":[{"name":"Celestin, Pierre vs City of Ny, et al.","start_date":"2021-04-27","disposition_date":"2025-03-12","payout_amount":0,"disposition":"Administrative Closing","docket":"500006/2021","court":"Supreme Court - Kings","summary":"On April 27, 2015, Plaintiff Pierre Celestin was attending the funeral of José “Cheo” Robles, in Brooklyn, at a church, when a gunfight broke out, and Celestin’s brother Fritz was shot in the back, nearly fatally. An ambulance came, and Celestin stayed at the scene while his brother, who was gravely wounded. A witness described the shooter as 5’5” and over 200 lbs. Celestin does not fit this description. He is well over 6’ tall, and at the time was over 400 lbs. Celestin’s brothers are also much taller than 5’5”. Witnesses said the shooters got out of an SUV and began shooting, but Celestin and his brothers were in the church, attending the funeral and would not have been seen getting out of an SUV. Two men, Sharieff Clayton and Ronald Murphy, were also shot during the incident, and died. Celestin was taken to a precinct, questioned by police without being Mirandized, and then was released from custody. For months, neither brother was arrested, and the murders of Clayton and Murphy went unsolved. There was extensive forensic evidence from the crime scene, including DNA and fingerprints, but none of it implicated Celestin. Celestin was never found with a weapon, nor were his brothers. Despite extensive searches and forensic testing, none of them were ever connected to a firearm during the shooting. As many as 50 people were at the wedding, but none of them came forward in the months afterwards to implicate Celestin, or his brothers. Suddenly two witnesses, Alcides Perez and Lorde Young, contacted Crime Stoppers, seemingly out of out of the blue.\nBut that was not what really happened. Both witnesses had been in contact with police, who told them details of the crime, including the name of Celestin, who the police called “Gregory.” Both witnesses later admitted they did not know Celestin, and in fact could not have entered his and his brothers’ names into the Crime Stoppers website  without the police telling them first.  The police also fabricated ballistics evidence, claiming to find a bullet in the SUV Celestin’s brother had rented. Even with help from the police, the two witnesses were fundamentally unreliable, could not keep their stories straight, and contradicted multiple first-hand accounts and other statements. Initially, Perez said he saw nothing. Perez did an interview with the New York Daily News and the Wall Street Journal, at the scene of the crime, where he told both reporters that he did not see the shooting  and that he ran away as fast as he could. Perez was interviewed by Officer Dawson on April 28, 2015, and admitted that he did not see the shooters at all. Later, after talking to the police and hearing the allegations about Celestin, and when Crime Stoppers offered money, Perez’s story changed drastically. On August 30, 2015, Perez contacted crime stoppers and claimed that Celestin’s brothers were the shooters but never mentioned Celestin as being one of the assailants. But Perez later admitted that he did not know the names of any of the Celestin brothers, and these names must have come from another source and according to the police documentation, he never provided the police with any explanation as to how he knew these names. Initially, Perez had submitted the Crime Stoppers tip anonymously, meaning that he could not get paid. When he realized his mistake, he submitted another tip, on September 21, 2015, with his name. Soon after the police approached him again.  The timing is extremely suspicious because the police had identified a man, Yasser Julio, as one of the assailants. But he died on September 20, 2015, and was no longer a useful suspect or capable of being prosecuted. Perez submitted his tip the next day. \nPerez continued to have trouble keeping his story straight, called Celestin by the name “Gregory” and at trial he thought Celestin was his brother Daniel, among other times he could not keep the brothers’ names straight.  When Perez was interviewed later under oath, he lied about getting $1,500 from Crime Stoppers for his testimony. A pastor at the church, who was at the scene, testified that a white SUV pulledup, two men got out, and immediately started shooting. Perez, however, claims that the three people Celestin and his two brothers, were walking, Celestin’s brother Fritz was assaulted by Clayton, and then all three brothers started shooting. erez later claimed at trial that he went down on one knee as the shooting started, hid behind his car, and called 911. But admitted he lied to the 911 operator. Perez claims that he saw four shooters, when in fact forensics only was able to identify three firearms. Young followed a similar pattern. The day of the shooting he smoked multiple blunts. He says he was standing at least three stores away, in the dark. And he was behind a tree. He could not have seen the shooting, and given his extensive criminal history, and history of violence, was fundamentally untrustworthy.Young was a drug dealer and gangmember ,and well known to the police, but he denied ever cooperating with the police before, claiming that this was the first time, despite decades of criminal activity in the same precinct.Young claimed he spontaneously decided to go to the precinct roughly a month after the shooting, and he admitted to getting a card for the lead detective, and calling him some time later. He did not know Celestin and his brothers before; this is when he learned their names. The detectives never officially recorded this meeting in police documents.Then he did nothing, for months, even though Clayton, one of the victims, was allegedly one of his friends.But almost immediately after Perez made his second tip to Crime Stoppers, right after the death of the police’s prime suspect Julio, likely prodded into action by the police, Young also submitted a tip that called the Celestin brothers by names and nicknames that he did not know, and would not have known, without assistance to the police.\nLater, on the stand at trial, Young admitted that he knew only the names of the alleged perpetrators because the police told him who they were.\nYoung admitted that the shooters came out of a Lexus, not the Lincoln Infinity SUV that documentary evidence showed Celestin’s brother had rented.\nYoung was shown a photo array with Celestin’s face, but could not identify anyone. Soon after, at a line-up, with five fillers who looked nothing like Celestin physically (except maybe his skin tone), Young looked at Celestin and asked where Fritz, his brother was. Celestin’s lawyer was there, and the police immediately kicked her out of the room when Young could not make a proper identification. But, having no leads or other ways to properly solve the two murders, the police hid the fact that they had engineered the Crime Stoppers tips, and the fact that the two witnesses could not keep their stories straight or properly identify witnesses, and forwarded this manufactured criminal investigation to the district attorney, who believed the police and prosecuted Celestin. Further, even though it was apparent that the shooters came out of a different vehicle, the police impounded and searched the SUV Celestin’s brother had rented. It was carefully searched for eight hours, but no relevant evidence was discovered. But after this eight hour search, Officers Pantoja and Kulichenko suddenly found a bullet and this discovery became the only forensic evidence to link Celestin to the murders. This was entirely manufactured and any bullet would have been found during the initial sweep.\nCelestin was arrested in 2015 and held in the notoriously horrible Riker’s Island until he was acquitted on October 2, 2019. The jury saw through the police fabrications, and acquitted him on all charges.All the named defendants in this case are, Detective William Ubieta,  Detective Lorraine Winters,  Detective James McCafferty, Detective Victoria Burton, Detective Aida Sicardo  Detective Carlos Pantoja Detective Anthony Carreira, Detective William Gonzalez, Defendant P.O. James Grant, Defendant P.O. Roman Kulichenko, Defendant P.O. Dalmin Vasquez and Defendant Detective Doe #1, surname O’Brien.","documents":[{"url":"https://iapps.courts.state.ny.us/nyscef/ViewDocument?docIndex=YPhgEg56/AOEGC6rkRJHQg==","type":"complaint"}]},{"name":"Toney, Michael vs City of New York, et al.","start_date":"2020-03-12","disposition_date":"2022-04-06","payout_amount":250000,"disposition":"Settlement","docket":"703846/2020","court":"Supreme Court - Queens","officer_name":"Ubieta, William","summary":"On March 9, 2019, plaintiff was on the sidewalk outside of a bar and lounge in Queens. PO William Ubieta and three PO John Does were also present at this location. Plaintiff was shot at and was shot by a bullet from the gun of one of these officers. Plaintiff was assaulted and falsely imprisoned by the officers, and the officers assaulted, threatened, battered, and falsely imprisoned him.","documents":[{"url":"https://iapps.courts.state.ny.us/nyscef/ViewDocument?docIndex=DgjXWDr/y_PLUS_8NyAeEN5Z2Lg==","type":"complaint"}]},{"name":"Chinweuba, Chidozie vs City of New York, et al.","start_date":"2014-07-16","disposition_date":"2017-04-26","payout_amount":14000,"disposition":"Settlement","docket":"14CV04301","court":"U.S. District Court - Eastern District NY","officer_name":"Ubieta, William","summary":"On June 27,2014, plaintiff was placed under arrest. His lawyer told police not to question him, but once at the precinct, he was interrogated by detectives Morra and Ubieta. When plaintiff refused to incriminate himself, Ubietra kicked him in the neck repeatedly. Plaintiff then suffered an asthma attack but was denied his inhaler. This attack left plaintiff with a broken rib and damaged kidney. When put back in his cell, plaintiff began to vomit blood and was initially refused medical attention. At the hospital, he was diagnosed with internal bleeding and was given medication, which defendants threw away when he returned to the hospital. The next day, he went tot the hospital again and defendants again threw away his medication. \nAgain, plaintiff was taken to the hospital when he was vomiting and there was blood in his urine, where he was diagnosed with a broken rib and damage to his kidneys and was told to follow up with a urologist. Defendants again denied him medical care upon his return to the precinct.","documents":[{"url":"https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nyed.358676/gov.uscourts.nyed.358676.28.0.pdf","type":"complaint"}],"url":"https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/4520282/chinweuba-v-city-of-new-york/"},{"name":"Allen et al v. The City of New York et al","court":"U.S. District Court - Eastern District NY","payout_amount":24000,"disposition":"Settlement","documents":[{"url":"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/4923502-Allen-et-al-v-The-City-of-New-York-et-al"},{"url":"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/4923503-Allen-et-al-v-The-City-of-New-York-et-al"}],"docket":"11CV03658","officer_name":"William Ubieta"}],"documents":[{"url":"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/24441170-bronx-notified-officers-list-edited_redacted-redacted_redacted","type":"credibility-finding"}],"id":"TB8D","url":"https://www.50-a.org/officer/TB8D"}