Complaint #201211316,
August 15, 2012

Summary

Officers observed a teenager engage with someone they knew to sell drugs. Believing they had observed a drug sale, the officers followed the teens to a building where they stopped them and searched them. The officers asked one teen if he lived in the building, and he stated he did and provided his apartment number. The officers went up to the apartment and spoke to the teen's mother. The teen stated that while his mother had not given the officers permission to search his room in the apartment, they had done so anyway. One officer stated that the mother had given them permission and they had searched the apartment, including the teen's room. No contraband was found. In his CCRB interview, PO Rojas stated that the officers did not go beyond the living room entryway of the apartment and did not search the boy's room, even though other officers testified that they had.
The CCRB found that the officer who searched the boy's room had done so without probable cause, and substantiated an allegation that he had abused his authority when he searched the boy's bedroom. It also found that PO Rojas had made a false statement when he said that the officers had not searched the bedroom at all, despite testimony from the other officer that they had.
The NYPD did not penalize either officer. Read report for details.