Michael Ip for New York Daily News/for New York Daily News
The NYPD has confirmed that they investigating Officers Andrew Torres, Jason Forgione and James Phillips, who have been transferred to different precincts since the March 2012 incident.
Sure, they took a gun off the street — but the three NYPD cops allegedly did it illegally, then lied to make a criminal case, says a federal lawsuit.
The case fell apart because the cops did not know someone had videotaped them conducting an illegal search of a vehicle, then high-fiving each other when they found a handgun stashed in the engine compartment.
The man they arrested, Andrew James, filed a $ 3 million lawsuit against the cops Thursday for malicious prosecution and violating his civil rights stemming from the March 2012 encounter on Francis Lewis Boulevard in south Queens.
James was pulled over for a traffic violation in his Cadillac Escalade by Officers Andrew Torres, Jason Forgione and James Phillips of the 105th Precinct. The cops claimed they smelled marijuana smoke, and spotted a police scanner and cash on the center console, the complaint states.
They arrested James and began searching the the vehicle, including under the hood, without a warrant.
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A witness recorded the car stop on a cell phone showing Phillips and Forgione congratulating themselves on finding the illegal weapon.
But when Torres testified under oath later in the grand jury and at an evidentiary hearing, he claimed the gun was discovered at the stationhouse when he was doing a routine inventory of the Cadillac.
The Queens district attorney’s office dismissed the charges against James when it learned of the video.
“They should have been indicted,” James’s civil lawyer Scott Cerbin told the Daily News. “By their actions deliberately committing perjury, they subjected him (James) to a seven year prison sentence.”
James’ criminal defense lawyer Robert Di Dio said the Queens district attorney’s office declined to prosecute the cops, but referred their alleged misconduct to the NYPD Internal Affairs Bureau for investigation. A police spokesman did not respond to a request for comment.
All three cops have been transferred to different precincts since the incident, Cerbin said. NYPD confirms there is an active investigaton of the three cops.
Yahoo Local News – New York Daily News
http://newyork.greatlocalnews.info/?p=15033
via Great Local News: New York http://newyork.greatlocalnews.info
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