| Man
Arrested For PCP in Washington
Height Alleged Retaliation But
Loses in SDNY Trial
by
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Book
Substack
SDNY COURTHOUSE,
March 31 – Darwin
Columna was
arrested in
Washington
Heights on
April 26, 2016
and charged
with
possessing a
bag of PCP
which he says
another man,
Batista,
admitted were
his.
Colomna
sued, alleging
that NYPD
Officer Gomez
was
retaliating
against him
for a lawsuit.
On
March 27, 2023
U.S. District
Court for the
Southern
District of
New York
Judge Jennifer
L. Rochon
began the
trial. Inner
City Press
went and
covered it.
Defense
counsel said
Columna is
trying to get
paid for
having the bag
of PCP.
The
defense said
it plans three
witnesses; the
plaintiff only
one beyond
himself. The
PCP will be
bought into
the
courthouse,
sealed in NYPD
evidence
pouches.
On
March 28,
Columna was
under cross
examination.
He
acknowledged
that Officer
Gomez did not
know precisely
who he was
until he
showed his ID
upon
arrested; he
was questioned
about walking
in the
rain from 181st
Street down
to a pharmacy in
the 140s. Did he
remember
everything
that he bought
that day? The
arrest
was in 2016.
On March
30, the jury
asked both
questions 1a
and 1b no: Has
plaintiff proved
by a
preponderance
of the
evidence that
Mr. Columna
was falsely
arrested? No -
"your
deliberations
are finished."
The
case is
Columna v.
Gomez, et al.,
19-cv-3801
(Rochon)
***
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