Complaint #200503373,
March 28, 2005

Officer: Seminara, Joseph
Complainant: Hispanic Male, 35
Allegation: Abuse of Authority: Threat of arrest
CCRB Conclusion: Exonerated
Officer: Seminara, Joseph
Complainant: Hispanic Male, 35
Allegation: Force: Physical force
CCRB Conclusion: Exonerated
Officer: Seminara, Joseph
Complainant: Hispanic Male, 35
Allegation: Abuse of Authority: Frisk
CCRB Conclusion: Exonerated
Officer Complainant Allegation CCRB Conclusion
Seminara, Joseph Hispanic Male, 35 Abuse of Authority: Threat of arrest Exonerated
Seminara, Joseph Hispanic Male, 35 Force: Physical force Exonerated
Seminara, Joseph Hispanic Male, 35 Abuse of Authority: Frisk Exonerated

Conclusion Meanings:

'Exonerated': or 'Within NYPD Guidelines' - The conduct occurred but did not violate the NYPD's own rules, which often give officers significant discretion.

Further details on conclusions.


Summary

[redacted] stated that on 3/28/2005, at approximately 2:15 PM, he was sitting in the passenger's seat as his colleague, [redacted] (also a Hispanic man), drove their employer's car northbound on Eighth Avenue and began to make a left turn onto 43rd Street. The car belonged to [redacted] agency, which is a private social services organization, but had official plates.
Officer Seminara and Officer Treubig were standing in uniform at the corner, and Officer Treubig ordered the car to pull over. As [redacted] pulled over, [redacted] remarked to him that they were being pulled over because [redacted] was not wearing a seatbelt. Officer Treubig approached the driver's side and asked [redacted] for his license and registration. [redacted] had parked imperfectly, and after Officer Treubig's question automatically pulled the car up a few inches in order to fix the parking job, while simultaneously reaching for his identification, and then put the car in park. Officer Treubig returned to the window and [redacted] provided the information. [redacted] told [redacted] "You should tell him to show you courtesy because we're driving an official vehicle," and [redacted] agreed. [redacted] stated that in the past the colleagues have been let off with warnings after being pulled over once officers saw the official plates.)
Officer Seminara then opened the passenger's side door and yelled into the vehicle in a "commanding," annoyed and upset voice, "Before you move the car next time, why don't you notify the cop so you don't run over his feet?" and then slammed the door.
A couple minutes later, [redacted] received a phone call from his office on his cell phone and stepped outside of the car in order to speak in private. The office call was confidential, and normally [redacted] would have rolled up the window so that no one outside of the agency could hear, but in this case [redacted] had to leave the window open in order to speak with Officer Treubig. [redacted] figured that the officers had realized by this time that he was in... Read report for details.


Details

Incident: March 28, 2005
Received: March 30, 2005
Closed: August 11, 2005

Reason for contact: Other violation of VTL
Location: Street/highway
In NYPD Midtown South Precinct Manhattan
Outcome: No arrest made or summons issued

Witness Officers: Christopher Treubig