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Cops Accused Of Disabling Surveillance Camera Before Gay-Bashing
By
John Del Signore
Published Jan 17, 2013
Modified Jan 17, 2013
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By
John Del Signore
Published Jan 17, 2013
Modified Jan 17, 2013
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A Crown Heights man intends to sue the city after a group of cops allegedly beat him up in his home while shouting anti-gay slurs. Jabbar Campbell, a 32-year-old forensic specialist, was hosting a gay pride party at his Sterling Place apartment Saturday night when police came to his residence because of a noise complaint. Those officers left after telling the revelers to keep it down, but soon another group of officers returned—and Campbell says one of them disabled a surveillance camera in the building before they beat him up.
Campbell's eight-room apartment occupies the entire second floor (there is currently no tenant on the first floor). A surveillance camera is installed in the vestibule, and Campbell has shared footage with the media that appears to show an officer reaching up to the camera and tampering with it. “They were trying to open the door, but it was locked,” Campbell tells the Daily News. “They were banging with their flashlights.
Shortly before 3 a.m. Campbell opened the door for the second group of officers. “There was a sergeant, he yelled ‘get him!’ and that’s when I got attacked," Campbell tells the Post. "They kept saying, ‘stop resisting’ but I wasn’t resisting. I didn’t have any time to respond. One particular officer had a gloved fist and was hitting me in the face." In his interview with the News, Campbell recalls, "They were screaming and cursing saying things like ‘fag,’ ‘homo,’ ‘a--hole,’ just a bunch of anti-gay slurs."
Campbell says he sustained a black eye, split lip and bloodied mouth during the alleged assault. At some point after his arrest he was taken to the hospital, then held for 24 hours after being treated. He was charged with resisting arrest, attempted assault, and pot possession. According to a copy of the criminal complaint obtained by the Post, police say Campbell refused to “discontinue a party” and then pushed Sgt. Juan Morero, "attempted to flee and flailed his arms at cops and behaved 'belligerently’ as he tried to fight with them."
But his attorney says the footage of an NYPD officer tampering with the surveillance camera will be a key element in his lawsuit. “They were trying to conceal the evidence by turning the camera away,” the lawyer, Herb Subin, tells the News. “They committed a hate crime inside a gay pride event.”
Tagged
Crown Heights
gay pride
hate crime
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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