Complaint #200715246,
October 16, 2007

Summary

On October 16, 2007 at approximately 12:15 AM, [redacted] were driving south along [redacted] in Manhattan, when [redacted] vehicle was stopped at [redacted] and [redacted] by an unmarked Ford Crown Victoria containing Sgt. Gregory Pekera, PO Peter Bolte, and PO Miroslav Maric, of Patrol Borough Manhattan North Task Force (Allegation A). [redacted] claimed to be unaware of the officers' presence behind [redacted]s car, so he exited the vehicle with the intention of crossing the street and jogging to a smoke shop at the corner of [redacted] and [redacted]. As he stepped out of the vehicle, [redacted] alleged, Sgt. Pekera and the passenger in the unmarked vehicle ran up to him, and Sgt. Pekera grabbed the front of [redacted]s jacket, pulled [redacted] completely out of the car, used his forearm to push [redacted]s back against the vehicle, and threw [redacted] chest-down onto the pavement (Allegation B). Sgt. Pekera allegedly asked [redacted] "Where the fuck are you going? Were you trying to run from us?" (Allegation C). As [redacted] lay on his chest on the ground, the passenger in the unmarked vehicle bent down and punched him once in the side of the face (Allegation D). The officers recovered a quantity of marijuana on [redacted]s person, in addition to a gravity knife which [redacted] allegedly dropped at the scene of the stop, and [redacted] was placed under arrest for [redacted]. At some point during this incident, [redacted] said, the officers removed [redacted] and [redacted] from [redacted]s car, and Sgt. Pekera searched this vehicle (Allegations E and F). Finally, [redacted] alleged that when he was placed in the unmarked Crown Victoria to be transported to the 34th Precinct station house, the passenger in the unmarked vehicle remarked, "If you wouldn't have tried to run, we would have let you go...But we saw that you were going to try to run, so now you're in deep shit" (Allegation G). Read report for details.