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Alleged Subway Sodomy Victim Loses Cool During Questioning
By
John Del Signore
Published Jan 26, 2010
Modified Jan 26, 2010
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By
John Del Signore
Published Jan 26, 2010
Modified Jan 26, 2010
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Today, for the first time, defense attorneys for three NYPD officers accused of participating in the sodomy of a Brooklyn man in the Prospect Park subway station got to cross-examine the alleged victim. During his second day of testimony, Michael Mineo reportedly became irate and emotional on the witness stand, and tempers flared from the very first question posed by defense lawyer Stuart London: "Good morning. You didn’t get stoned today before you came to court, did you?"
Two officers are accused of helping to cover up the brutality of another officer, Richard Kern, who is charged with aggravated sexual abuse and assault (with a retractable baton). Mineo acknowledged he ran from police on that day in October 2008 because the officers caught him smoking pot on the sidewalk and he thought he would be arrested because he didn't have ID. During today's questioning, lawyers asked him to scream, to show what he looked like when he was handcuffed, and to hold up his own underwear. "Come on, this is ridiculous," Mineo yelled, according to the Daily News. "You want me to demonstrate the scream. That's impossible...Is this your defense, is this your best defense?"
"Have you ever been to acting school?" replied Kern's lawyer, John Patten, seemingly intent on provoking Mineo, who shot back, "No, I never went to acting school. Have you?" Patten began his questioning by showing surveillance footage of Mineo walking down the street alone shortly after the confrontation, apparently uninjured. At one point, according to the News, Mineo became so "incensed" he asked for a recess, and Justice Alan Marrus warned him, "You need to have a little patience. We have three defendants on trial who have a right to ask you questions."
But Mineo was outraged by the line of questioning, at one point shouting at the defendants, "One of you did something to me and it's going to come out, it's going to come out. I'm a victim and I'm the one getting treated like I did this to myself. I just wanted my voice to be heard. I didn't want it to be sweeped [sic] under the carpet like everything else the police do. I'm not asking for money for free. I was violated." In a separate civil lawsuit, MIneo is seeking $220 million in damages from the city. On the reliably grotesque NYPD Rant message board, one person fumes, "By the way, if he DOES win and get paid we should find him and REALLY stick a baton up his ass. If the city is gonna pay for it we might as well take the action we were 'guilty' of and get our money's worth."
Tagged
michael mineo
nyc
subway sodomy
testimony
trial
John Del Signore
Originally from the Albany area, John Del Signore has called NYC home since 1995. In addition to his thousands of meticulously-crafted bespoke blog posts for Gothamist, his writing has also been published in The Awl, Deadspin, The Nervous Breakdown, and performed at The Brick Theater in Brooklyn.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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