Update: From Hospital Bed, Man Says He's Hurting From Police Brutality

Jim Finnel

Fallen Cannabis Warrior & Ex News Moderator
Michael Mineo, recovering in a Brooklyn hospital bed Friday, was emphatic about the attackers responsible for his excruciating pain.

"The cops did this to me," the 24-year-old Brooklyn man told the Daily News in a bedside interview. "They did it to me. I'm in so much pain now."

Mineo, in a white gown at Brooklyn Hospital Center, was hooked to a morphine drip as he recovered from surgery. "They just drained 50 ccs of poisonous blood from me," he said.

"I've got pus coming out of me, man. I need help!"

RELATED: BROOKLYN MAN ACCUSING NYPD IN SODOMY ATTACK TO GO ON REV. AL SHARPTON'S RADIO SHOW

Mineo accused five cops of sodomizing him with a walkie-talkie on the platform of a Brooklyn subway station after they grabbed him for smoking marijuana nine days ago.

"I'm f----- up, man," he said Friday before shouting for a doctor. Mineo was back in the hospital less than a week after his release from another facility following the alleged attack.

Although Mineo's charges were reminiscent of the 1997 Abner Louima case, his injuries were not nearly as severe, according to law enforcement sources.

Louima was left in critical condition with a torn bladder and other internal injuries after a stick was shoved up his rectum inside the 70th Precinct.

RELATED: FIVE COPS EYED IN SODOMY ATTACK

Mineo suffered a small cut, about one-eighth of an inch, below his anus, according to two law enforcement sources who saw photos of the wound. Another source said there were several "small rectal tears."

Officials at Brookdale University Medical Center confirmed he spent four days there last week after his arrest.

"Something bad happened on that subway platform," said another source. "I don't know if it's exactly what he said, but it was something inappropriate."

A police Internal Affairs Bureau probe, with more than 20 investigators, was launched within 24 hours of the Mineo incident, police sources said.

The Brooklyn district attorney was also involved, with investigators interviewing Mineo again and vetting his story against other accounts, said a law enforcement source.

Mineo's tale was discredited by two witnesses, the police sources said.

Several civilian witnesses watched the officers cuffing Mineo, who was shouting "Don't Taser me!" and "Don't shove a walkie up my a--!" the police sources said.

Witness told investigators that the cops did not have Tasers, nor did they see any abuse. However, one did see Mineo's pants down exposing his buttocks.

Four of the officers were from the 71st Precinct, while the fifth was with NYPD Transit. Only three of the cops went into the station after Mineo, the sources said.

IAB allowed the officers to stay on duty because of the witness statements, the officers' track records and a doctor's description of the injury, the sources said.

Investigators did search one officer's locker and a police car. They believe a cop at the 71st Precinct with less than three years on the job was the primary attacker.

Mineo was apparently put into a police car before he was issued a ticket for disorderly conduct and released.

A video camera captured that part of the incident, the police sources said. No video of the alleged assault has surfaced.

The victim had served three short stints on Rikers Island: A month in 2004 and 11 days last year for marijuana busts, and six days for an assault this past April, the city Correction Department said.

He pleaded guilty to one of the marijuana arrests after being charged with stealing credit cards from a friend's parents, according to court papers.

Friends said Mineo had no reason to lie about the alleged assault.

"If Mikey said something happened to him, I believe it," said his best friend, Eduardo (Fat Boy) Diaz, of Red Hook. "He's not the kind of individual who would lie."

The officers have not been interviewed by IAB, although the sources indicated they will sit down with the district attorney in the coming days.

amd_mineo.jpg

Michael Mineo, shown in undated photo, claims cops brutalized him after busting him for smoking a joint on Brooklyn subway station.



News Hawk: User: 420 MAGAZINE ® - Medical Marijuana Publication & Social Networking
Source: NYDailyNews.com
Author: MIKE JACCARINO, ALISON GENDAR, SCOTT SHIFREL AND LARRY MCSHANE
Copyright: 2008 NYDailyNews.com
Contact: Contact Us
Website: From his hospital bed, man says he's hurting from police brutality
 
Back
Top Bottom