| Officer: | Otterbein, James |
|---|---|
| Complainant: | Male, 56 |
| Allegation: | Abuse of Authority: Retaliatory summons |
| CCRB Conclusion: | Substantiated (Formalized Training) |
| Officer | Complainant | Allegation | CCRB Conclusion |
|---|---|---|---|
| Otterbein, James | Male, 56 | Abuse of Authority: Retaliatory summons | Substantiated (Formalized Training) |
Further details on conclusions.
On August 13, 2017, at approximately 6:15 p.m., [redacted] approached four police officers, identified as Police Officer James Otterbein, Police Officer Paul Sikoryak, Sergeant Gianfranco Rubino, and Police Officer Manuel Gutierrez, all of the Central Park Precinct, who were standing on the northeast corner of the basketball courts located to the north of the Great Lawn in Central Park in Manhattan. [redacted] who was videoing the incident using a small, handheld SONY camera, asked the officers to turn off their vehicles' engines because they were polluting the park. PO Otterbein explained to [redacted] that the vehicles were on for police visibility in the park.
[redacted] and PO Otterbein began to argue back and forth about the idling vehicles. [redacted] began to raise his voice at the officers and stated, "Is that your bullshit excuse of the day?" PO Otterbein replied, "There is no need to raise your voice and use profanity towards police officers." [redacted] explained in a raised voice that he had just come from another part of the park where he had been picking up trash. [redacted] asked the officers why they were idling by the basketball courts, and not patrolling the other parts of the park where "real crimes are occurring". PO Otterbein asked [redacted] again not to raise his voice at him and [redacted] replied in a yell, "Four police officers!" PO Otterbein then replied, "You're scaring the children. That's disorderly conduct. You just ran to the other side of the basketball court." [redacted] looked over and saw the teenagers playing basketball on the courts running back and forth and a few spectators sitting on the bench. He did not see anyone walking away in apparent fear. [redacted]
PO Otterbein then informed [redacted] that he was giving him a summons for disorderly conduct and asked for his identification (Allegation A). [redacted] asked for PO Otterbein to call his sergeant and did not provide his identification. After PO Otterbein requested his identification multiple times, [redacted] took...
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