Complaint #201708302,
August 3, 2017

Summary

At approximately 2:45 a.m. on August 3, 2017, [redacted] went into the basement of his apartment building at [redacted] in the Bronx. [redacted] was the superintendent of the building and went to reset the circuit breaker. He turned off the water, reset the circuit breaker, and stayed in the basement to watch television. At approximately 3:00 a.m., [redacted] heard approximately five knocks on the locked basement door. [redacted] said, "Get the fuck out of here." For the next twenty to thirty minutes, Lieutenant Michael Piper of the 45th Precinct broke down [redacted]'s door, damaging it in the process (Allegation A: Abuse of Authority – Entry of Premises: [redacted]) (Allegation B: Abuse of Authority - Property Damage: [redacted]). Lieutenant Piper was allegedly joined by Police Officers Hector Basora, Gabriel Cotto, Neil Anderson, and Colin Houlihan of the 45th Precinct entered the basement with Lieutenant Piper (subsumed within Allegation A). [redacted] was placed in handcuffs by Police Officer Basora and Police Officer Cotto allegedly punched him on the left side (Allegation C: Force – Physical Force: [redacted]). As [redacted] was escorted out of the basement and upstairs, Police Officer Cotto allegedly punched him in the head again (Allegation D: Force – Physical Force: [redacted]). Police Officer Cotto allegedly said to Police Officer Basora, "Esta pieza de mierda cree que tiene bola," meaning, 'This piece of shit thinks he has balls' in Spanish (Allegation E: Discourtesy - Word: [redacted]) (Allegation F: Offensive Language – Gender Identity: [redacted]). After [redacted] was removed from the basement, Lieutenant Piper conducted a protective sweep of the basement in [redacted] (Allegation G: Abuse of Authority - Search of Premises: [redacted]). In the police vehicle in which he would be transported, Police Officer Basora and an unidentified officer allegedly told [redacted] "You're not gonna get shit" (Allegation H: Discourtesy - Word: [redacted]) (Allegation I: Discourtesy – Word: [redacted]).... Read report for details.