In SDNY Bronx
Security Guard
Had
Mysterious
Warrant Search As Beating
Case Goes To Jury
By Matthew
Russell Lee
NEW YORK CITY,
February 6 – It was just
another night in The Bronx,
now put under a three day
microscope. A young man who
worked as a security guard
hailed a gypsy cab by the
174th Street elevated train
station of the 2 and 5 lines
to drive him to his
girlfriend's house, sat in the
backseat talking with her on
Face-time on the way.
Then, as
summarized on February 6 in
the US District Court for the
Southern District of New York,
the cab was pulled over on
Boston Road by an unmarked New
York Police Department car
which turned its siren lights
on. The young man, James Hurt
Jr., was told to end the phone
call and get out of the car.
He did, but then he says he
got pushed by one officer and
then got punched in the face
three times by NYPD Sargeant
Michael Connizzio.
On
February 6 Connizzio's lawyer
in
the SDNY
courtroom of
Judge P. Kevin
Castel
(who praised both teams of
lawyers) denied it was him,
saying his only mistake was
not signing himself off duty
that night. But in rebuttal
Hurt Jr's lawyer told the
jury, I've kept something
juicy for you. The 44th
precinct where Connizzio
worked ran two warrant
searches for James Hurt Jr.
the day after the incident.
How did they know his name?
His I.D. had been in the gym
bag he left in the back of the
gypsy cab, that Connizzio had
searched. Checkmate? We'll see
- the jury will get the case
on February 7, as will another
police brutality case up in
Courtroom 26A before Judge
Kimba Wood. Watch this site.
There were no
other journalists in the
courtroom, other than Inner
City Press. This case (Hurt
JR. v. The City of New York
et al,
1:15-cv-07612-PKC) was not
deemed high profile or Of
Interest. Watch this site.
Upcoming in the
SDNY is a just-filed complaint
by the Bangladesh Central Bank
for the $81 million hacking of
its funds, which were then
wired through the Federal
Reserve Bank of New York, a case
that Inner City Press will
cover. Times change. Watch
this site.
***
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