Alleged sodomy victim suing NYPD, city

NEW YORK (WABC) -- His legal team took 16 typewritten pages to explain what Michael Mineo described in exactly nine seconds.

"This is considered a rape. A rape. I'm a man. I was raped by four guys holding me down, putting a baton in my rectum," he said.

Mineo's federal civil rights lawsuit demands $220 million dollars from the NYPD and the city of New York.

The alleged incident happened in the Prospect Park subway station in October of last year. Mineo said he was tackled by several police officers after he was spotted smoking marijuana.

Officer Richard Kern was later arrested. Officers Alex Cruz and Andrew Morales were charged with covering-up the alleged assault.

The lawsuit claims Mineo "suffered unconscionable trauma, debasement and humiliation of being sexually-assaulted in daylight hours and publicly arrested and imprisoned without cause or justification."

The lawsuit also faults the city's police commissioner for not condemning the officers. The suit charges that department spokesmen "made public statements [that] such actions were within the scope of said officers' responsibilities."

The case bears many similarities to the notorious stationhouse sodomy of Abner Louima, who received nearly nine million dollars. It was the largest-ever police brutality settlement in the city's history.

Get more Local News »

• Comment Now
• Email
• Print
• Report a typo
•