Complaint #200409256,
August 16, 2004

Summary

On August 16, 2004, around 6:30pm [redacted] was waiting for the bus on Hylan Boulevard near Cannon Boulevard, in Staten Island. He was waiting with his friends [redacted] (last names unknown). They found a can of orange spray paint from a nearby construction site and [redacted] picked, it up accidentally getting some paint on his arm. He stated that his friend [redacted] then used the paint to write graffiti on a fence near the bus stop. At that time a car driving by observed their actions and honked the horn. [redacted] and his friends then took the bus to the Eltingville train station, where they saw two plainclothes officers, identified by the investigation as Sgt. Walter Connolly as PO Louis Bertuccio. They were driving an older model black Chevrolet Impala. After [redacted] had exited the bus, the officers approached the group and began searching through their pockets. The officers told them that someone had spray painted a fence on Hylan Boulevard. An officer identified to [redacted] as a lieutenant by the plainclothes officers then arrived. [redacted] later found out that this lieutenant was the individual in the car who had observed the spray painting and reported it. [redacted] described the lieutenant as an older male with gray hair, (he was identified by the investigation as Lt. Joe Sitro). Lt. Sitro approached [redacted] looked at his arm, which had orange paint on it, and said that he had done the graffiti. [redacted]'s friends then walked away once Lt. Sitro decided that he had done it. He was then handcuffed and put in a patrol car. The officers then asked why [redacted] had done the graffiti, to which he denied having done it. At that time, in the RMP, PO Bertuccio said to him, "You shouldn't be doing graffiti, you should be trying to get laid. What's wrong with your voice? Didn't your balls drop yet?" Sgt. Connolly then stated, "Let's send him to the Bronx, show him how it's really like. You'll be a bitch there, you're just a [redacted] punk." The officers laughed at each other's comments.... Read report for details.