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NYPD Detective Arrested For DUI/Assault Says Video Exonerates Him
By
Garth Johnston
Published Aug 15, 2012
Modified Aug 15, 2012
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By
Garth Johnston
Published Aug 15, 2012
Modified Aug 15, 2012
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Well, this is interesting. Earlier this week NYPD detective Harold Thomas was arrested after he allegedly got in a scuffle with the officers who pulled his Cadillac Escalade over for possibly drinking and driving. But now Thomas says video exists that shows the arrest didn't go down like that, specifically that he didn't assault his arresting officers. And he's got a State Senator on his side.
See, this weekend State Senator Eric Adams introduced a new smartphone app ("Brooklyn Quality of Life") which allows users to anonymously send evidence of criminal activity and dangerous conditions to city agencies without dealing with the police. And Adams says that, in the app's first week on the streets, a video of Thomas's arrest was uploaded to the service. After reviewing the video, Adams tells the Daily News that Thomas's incident "was definitely a bad arrest."
The video apparently "shows Thomas on the ground, seemingly without moving, while cops handcuff him."
Adams has shown the video to Thomas (who says he was targeted in the incident because he is black and his arresting officers were white) and submitted it to NYPD Internal Affairs investigators. But he hasn't shared it with the public, yet. When asked if that was a possibility, Senator Adams's deputy chief of staff, who has seen the video, told us she would "look into it" but might not be able to share it as the case is "still an ongoing investigation."
This is not the first time Thomas has made headlines. Last year he was shot in the leg during a gun fight outside a boutique Miami Beach hotel where he was vacationing. Damage to a major artery during the fight caused him to be temporarily put in a medically induced coma.
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eric adams
harold thomas
nypd
Garth Johnston
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