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Queens Men Sue Cops Over Laughter Arrest
By
John Del Signore
Published Dec 13, 2010
Modified Dec 13, 2010
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By
John Del Signore
Published Dec 13, 2010
Modified Dec 13, 2010
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Four Queens men are suing the NYPD because they say an angry cop arrested them after another group of men laughed at him. Police sources tell the Daily News the arrests were made after cops approached a group gathered at Rufus King Park in Jamaica on the afternoon of August 19th. Police saw someone throw a bag in a garbage can, so they began frisking everybody to check for drugs, and one suspect allegedly told them he'd smoked all the marijuana. Then the guy ran off, with one cop chasing him on foot.
When the cop returned without making an arrest, he was out of breath, and some spectators at a nearby handball game laughed at the winded officer. According to the lawsuit, one of the cops allegedly told the chuckling peanut gallery, "If you think that's funny, watch what I do to them." They then arrested Abdul Kabba, Isaiah Barnes, Hasan Allen and Ishmial Deas. The bag that had been thrown in the trash contained 31 glassine envelopes of marijuana, and the four men were carted off in handcuffs for marijuana possession.
Their lawyer tells the News, the cops "were embarrassed, so they abused their power by locking them up anyway." The four men say there were held for 27 hours in the 103rd Precinct station house before the Queens DA dropped the charges. Then they were held another four hours while the cop "finished the paperwork." To be fair, he was probably still out of breath.
Tagged
103rd precinct
arrest
Laughing
laughter
lawsuit
nypd
queens
Rufus King Park
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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