Complaint #201902570,
March 22, 2019

Summary

On March 22, 2019, at approximately 9:10 PM, in the vicinity of 1903 West Farms Road in the Bronx, [redacted] and his friend [redacted] after an evening of smoking marijuana in their vehicle - were pulled over by Police Officer David Ramirez and Police Officer Rafael Santos of the 48th Precinct (Allegations A,B: Abuse of Authority – Vehicle Stop, [redacted]). Police Officer Ramirez first came to [redacted] the driver, ordered him out of the vehicle, took him to the rear of the vehicle, and frisked him (Allegation C: Abuse of Authority – Frisk, [redacted]). At the same time, on the opposite side of the vehicle, Police Officer Santos told [redacted] to exit as well. However, [redacted] failed to comply and instead retrieved his cell phone to video record the encounter. In response, Police Officer Santos reached through the open passenger-side window, unlocked the door, grabbed [redacted] and pulled him outside (Allegation D: Abuse of Authority – Vehicle Search, [redacted]; Allegation E: Force – Physical Force, [redacted]). Police Officer Santos then took the phone out of [redacted] hands and threw it back into the vehicle, thus preventing him from video recording (Allegation F: Abuse of Authority: Recording Interference, [redacted]).
Once outside the vehicle, Police Officer Santos allegedly turned [redacted] around, "slammed" him against the vehicle, and began handcuffing him (subsumed under Allegation E, [redacted]). Police Officer Ramirez then came over to [redacted] and allegedly punched him repeatedly (Allegation G: Force – Physical Force, [redacted]). While striking [redacted] Police Officer Ramirez allegedly stated, "I do this to niggers like you every day." (Allegation H: Offensive Language - Race, [redacted]) Police Officer Ramirez allegedly also stated that [redacted] mother "sucks his nuts." (Allegation I: Discourtesy – Word, [redacted]) [redacted] was eventually handcuffed by Police Officer Santos. Police Officer Ramirez then frisked [redacted] (Allegation J: Abuse of Authority – Frisk, [redacted]).... Read report for details.