Complaint #200701300,
January 12, 2007

Summary

On January 12, 2007, [redacted] was hailing a taxi in front of a bar at 225 East Sixth Street in Manhattan. As he was hailing a taxi with his left hand, Mr. [redacted] was holding a digital video recorder in his right hand and filming his friend [redacted] who stood on the sidewalk. As Mr. [redacted] stood between two parked cars with his hand extended onto the street, an unmarked police van containing plainclothes Police Officers Douglas Schack, William Glynn, and Edward Nusser approached Mr. [redacted] As the van passed Mr. [redacted], the driver's side rearview mirror struck Mr. [redacted]'s hand. Mr. [redacted] yelled out that his hand had been struck as Officer Schack continued driving forward. Officer Schack drove the van in reverse to Mr. [redacted] and asked him if he usually liked "to stand in the middle of the street." This verbal interaction was captured on Mr. [redacted]'s digital recorder, and Mr. [redacted] later provided the CCRB with a copy of the footage. The officers involved in this incident did not dispute the veracity of the footage. Mr. [redacted] said to Officer Schack, "You usually like to run into people's hands who are trying to hitch a ride?" Officer Schack responded to Mr. [redacted] "You're a fucking idiot, how about that?" (allegation A). Mr. responded, "How about you suck my dick?" Officer Schack immediately exited the van and attempted to place Mr. [redacted] under arrest for disorderly conduct (allegation B). Up until this point, none of the officers had identified themselves as police officers. Six seconds after Officer Schack exited the van, Officers Schack and Glynn had wrestled Mr. [redacted] onto the ground. Mr. [redacted]'s face struck the pavement, causing a gash that required ten stitches to heal (allegations C and D). Mr. [redacted] was charged with two counts of disorderly conduct for obstructing vehicular traffic and using obscene language in a public place. Read report for details.