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Charges Dropped Against Homeless Man Beaten By Cop In Crown Heights Youth Center
By
John Del Signore
Published Oct 22, 2012
Modified Oct 22, 2012
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By
John Del Signore
Published Oct 22, 2012
Modified Oct 22, 2012
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And here we have umpteenth example of police almost getting away with a gross miscarriage of justice if not for a meddling video camera exposing what really happened to the world. Homeless man Ehud Halevy, 21, was awoken and arrested on October 8th while sleeping on the couch in a Crown Heights synagogue and center for at-risk youth. After he (correctly) insisted that he had permission to stay there and refused to leave, he refused to let officers' handcuff him and was beaten. Halevy was charged with resisting arrest, trespassing, and assault on police officers—the latter charge, a felony, seemed particularly absurd in light of the surveillance video:
In the wake of a public outcry and a petition signed by 100,000 people, Brooklyn District Attorney Charles Hynes today agreed to drop all charges against Halevy. Halevy’s lawyer, Norman Siegel, also asked Hynes to bring criminal charges against the officers for allegedly making false statements. "There were numerous inconsistencies and inaccuracies in the criminal complaint,” Siegel tells the Times. “Why is the complaint not accurate? That in and of itself is a Class A misdemeanor.”
The NYPD Internal Affairs division and the Brooklyn DA are conducting investigations into Halevy's brutal arrest, which occurred after a volunteer at the Alternative Learning Institute for Young Adults called the police to report a trespasser. It was later revealed that Halevy had been sleeping at the center with the full blessing of the center's rabbi, Moishe Feiglin, who tells the Daily News, "We believe the police fabricated the police report that they submitted and have failed to publicly acknowledge what really happened that night."
The video was first posted on CrownHeights.info.
Tagged
charles hynes
Crown Heights
ehud halevy
nypd
police brutality
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
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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