| Officer: | Downes, Sean |
|---|---|
| Allegation: | Force: Hit against inanimate object |
| CCRB Conclusion: | Unsubstantiated |
| Officer | Allegation | CCRB Conclusion | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Downes, Sean | Force: Hit against inanimate object | Unsubstantiated |
Further details on conclusions.
On September 9, 1998, at approximately 11:30 PM, Mr. [redacted] and his friend [redacted] were on the corner of 95th St. and 35th Ave. in Queens. [redacted] pointed a red laserbeam light at an officer (now identified as PO Timothy Erwig) and was therefore arrested for [redacted]. [redacted] told the officers to calm down because the officers were pushing [redacted] around. [redacted] was then arrested for [redacted] by PO Sean Downes, PO Erwig's partner. [redacted] and [redacted] were taken to the 115th Precinct stationhouse for processing. After approximately 3 hours of being in the holding cell at the 115th Precinct stationhouse, PO Downes took [redacted] to be fingerprinted. PO Downes was holding [redacted] finger tightly, so [redacted] yanked away from him. PO Downes grabbed [redacted] arm and placed handcuffs on him. After he was handcuffed, PO Downes threw [redacted] to the floor. The left side of [redacted] face slammed into the floor. PO Downes then grabbed [redacted] head and slammed his left cheek into the floor about 4-5 times. [redacted] stated that there was blood all over his face and on the floor as a cut opened above his left eye, on his brow. [redacted] passed out on the floor. When he regained consciousness a few minutes later, PO Downes had his knee against his neck.
[redacted] stated that he was not drinking alcohol that evening, but had smoked marijuana. [redacted] stated that there were other officers around in the stationhouse, but none assisted in hitting him. [redacted] was screaming from the holding cell to call an ambulance and screamed that they were going to kill him.
An ambulance arrived and transported [redacted] to [redacted] There, [redacted] was x-rayed, revealing that his left cheekbone had a minor fracture, while his right cheekbone had a major break. [redacted] said that the left side of his face was being banged into the floor, but the banging also caused his right cheekbone to fracture. [redacted] needed surgery and two metal plates were inserted in his face (see encl....
Read report for details.