Complaint #200700045,
December 31, 2006

Summary

On December 31, 2006, at approximately 10:55 PM, [redacted] old, walked out of his building at [redacted] in Brooklyn in order to throw away a black plastic bag of cat litter. As he was doing so, two male, Caucasian, uniformed police officers, PO Mark Jablonski and PO John Tancredi, approached [redacted] asking him what was in the bag. [redacted] told them "None of your business." One of the officers described as having a "beetles hair cut" then asked, "What the fuck was in the bag?" (Allegation A). Both officers grabbed [redacted] by each arm (Allegation B and C) as [redacted] was pushing away from them. Sgt. Richard Pignatelli then approached, kneed [redacted] in his genitalia and "slammed" him back first on a parked car so that his head hit the car first and then his body was laid out on the car with his feet off of the ground (Allegation D). Following this, all three of the officers, one after the other, put their hands in [redacted]'s pockets and then put their hands inside of his waistband, on the inside of his underwear (Allegations E, F and G). [redacted]'s mother, [redacted] came downstairs noticing a crowd of about eight or nine people and the officers were telling [redacted] to "shut the fuck up" (Allegation H). [redacted] approached the officers, asking what they were doing [redacted]. Sgt. Pignatelli approached her, asked who she worked for and when she told him, he responded, "I don't give a fuck who you work for" and additionally called [redacted] a "bitch" (although [redacted] alleged that Sgt. Pignatelli said "black bitch") (Allegation I). Sgt. Pignatelli then told [redacted] and [redacted] that he could "have both their asses in jail." (Allegation J and K). [redacted] then asked the officers for their names and shield numbers and Sgt. Pignatelli identified himself by name and shield number. The officers then got into a black, unmarked police car and left without issuing a summons or making an arrest. Read report for details.