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Teen: Cops Arrested Me For Observing Pungent Stench Of Dog Feces
By
John Del Signore
Published Jul 13, 2011
Modified Jul 13, 2011
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By
John Del Signore
Published Jul 13, 2011
Modified Jul 13, 2011
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The 17-year-old Bronx teenager who was allegedly beaten in an alley by two NYPD officers says his troubles all started because he made an innocuous remark about canine excrement. Tyre Davis tells the Daily News that he was walking by a police officer near East 181st St. and Creston Avenue in Fordham Heights when detected the powerful aroma of dog feces. "It smells like doo-doo," Davis noted to his companion, and he says it was only then that he realized there was a uniformed cop scraping ordure off his shoe. "I was like, 'Oh, man, why did I say that?' " Davis recalls.
He says the other officers scolded him, then handcuffed him and took him to the 46th Precinct, where he was issued a disorderly conduct ticket. And when he was released, he claims Officers Joseph Murphy, 26, and Jose Ocasio, 28, were waiting for him outside the station house. The two cops are accused of taking Davis into an alley and hitting him "repeatedly with closed fists and kicks" to his face and body, leaving him with a cut and bruise to his forehead. He fell and hit his head on a brick wall, and tells the News, "I thought I was going to die."
But Davis lived to tell his mother about it, and she reported it to the NYPD. After an Internal Affairs investigation into the February incident, the two officers were charged Monday with third-degree assault, official misconduct and harassment. At press time, it was still unclear if investigators have any leads in tracking down the dog owner. But this isn't the first time that cops have been accused of beating someone up over dog doo.
Tagged
nypd
police brutality
the bronx
Tyre Davis
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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