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Cops Filmed Beating Unarmed Teen Found Not Guilty Of Assault
By
Nathan Tempey
Published Nov 23, 2016
Modified Nov 23, 2016
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By
Nathan Tempey
Published Nov 23, 2016
Modified Nov 23, 2016
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A judge found two police officers caught on camera beating an unarmed teenage drug dealer not guilty of assault yesterday. Video of the 2014 incident showed officers David Afanador and Tyrane Isaac chasing Kaheem Tribble, then 16, in Crown Heights. Tribble was carrying several bags of marijuana, by all accounts, and ran when officers approached him. Surveillance video shows Tribble stopping on the sidewalk as the officers jog to catch up with him. When they do, the video appears to show Isaac clock Tribble in the head, and then, as Tribble raises his hand in surrender, to show Afanador trot up with his gun drawn and bash Tribble in the face with it, knocking him to the ground.
Over the course of the weeklong trial, Afanador admitted to slapping Tribble with a marijuana bag and saying, "You did all this for weed?" But he claimed to not have intentionally pistol-whipped the youngster, who said the blow from the gun cracked his teeth.
"I lunged forward screaming get on the...ground," Afanador testified. "As I motioned forward, his eyes got wide and he went to the ground."
Asked if his gun made contact, he said he didn't remember. "I didn't feel the contact," he said.
He also claimed that it was too dark for him to see Isaac's haymaker.
"I’m grateful the court listened to all the evidence," Isaac’s attorney Stephen Drummond said after the verdict came down. "It is my sincerest hope that Mr. Tribble get the help he needs."
"These police officers acted in good faith. They deserve this verdict," Afanador’s lawyer Stephen Worth said.
Afanador had faced as many as seven years in prison on a felony assault charge as well as official misconduct and gun possession counts, and Isaac had faced up to a year's imprisonment on misdemeanor assault and official misconduct charges.
In a statement, acting District Attorney Eric Gonzalez said, "We respect the Court's decision, but are disappointed by today's verdict as we believe that these police officers' conduct, as depicted in the video, amounted to an excessive and unnecessary use of force. My office remains steadfast in its resolve to investigate and prosecute all cases of apparent police brutality."
The not-guilty verdict was delivered by Judge Danny Chun. He is the same judge who reduced a manslaughter conviction against Officer Peter Liang for inadvertently shooting and killing Akai Gurley in 2014 and sentenced Liang to probation, and who sentenced two members of a Hasidic Jewish neighborhood patrol group who admitted to participating in the 2013 beating of a gay black college student, which left the man blind in one eye, to community service.
Both Afanador and Isaac were placed on desk duty following the incident—Afanador was initially suspended without pay—and both appear to have made out well while awaiting trial. City payroll records show that both officers made over $95,000 in 2015 on base salaries of $76,500, presumably through overtime. In 2016, that figure jumped to $99,000 for Isaac, and $124,500 for Afanador, from base salaries of $78,000.
Similarly, Officer Daniel Pantaleo, one of several officers who killed Eric Garner in Staten Island in 2014, made $120,000 with overtime from a comparable base salary in fiscal year 2016, and cops placed on modified duty following the killing of Ramarley Graham and a head-stomping caught on video in Bedford-Stuyvesant also got overtime pay bumps while working desk duty.
In September, the NYPD pledged to scrutinize overtime for cops accused of wrongdoing more closely by requiring the chief of department to sign off on each overtime request, after the Daily News reported on the issue.
Tagged
brooklyn district attorney's office
david afanador
impunity
judge danny chung
not guilty
nypd
police brutality
police misconduct
tyrane isaac
verdict
Nathan Tempey
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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