Complaint #200702457,
February 20, 2007

Summary

On February 20, 2007, at 9:40 PM, [redacted] and his roommate, [redacted] were walking on Bay Street near the intersection with Water Street in Staten Island. Five officers, identified during the investigation as Sergeant Robert Warshefskie, Officer Jerome McGraw, Officer Manuel Sepulveda, Officer James Pedro, and Officer Jessica Nieves, exited an unmarked blue van and walked towards [redacted] and [redacted] Sergeant Warshefskie, Officer Nieves, and Officer Pedro approached [redacted] while Officer McGraw and Officer Sepulveda approached [redacted] (allegation A). [redacted] asked Sergeant Warshefskie, Officer Pedro, and Officer Nieves for identification information and Sergeant Warshefskie told [redacted] that they did not need to provide that information (allegations B, C, and D). Sergeant Warshefskie frisked [redacted] (allegation E) and then searched his jacket and pants pockets and removed [redacted]'s wallet (allegation F). [redacted] asked Officer McGraw and Officer Sepulveda for their names and shield numbers and they did not reply to the question (allegations G and H). Officer McGraw unzipped [redacted]'s jacket and frisked his upper body and then searched his jacket and pants pockets (allegations I and J), removing [redacted]'s wallet from his pants pockets and looking through the wallet. After [redacted] asked the officers if they were stopping him because he fit a description, an unidentified officer said, "Are you trying to be a smart ass?" (allegation K) Sergeant Warshefskie did not prepare a stop and frisk report in regards to stopping [redacted] (allegation L). Read report for details.