SAM WOOD, PHILLY.COM
A Philadelphia police officer
was suspended with intent to dismiss after being charged with false
imprisonment and other counts in a 2013 arrest of an Operation Iraqi Freedom
war veteran who had pointed out the officer was driving the wrong direction on
a one-way street.
The vet, who served in the U.S.
Air Force, has filed a $1 million suit against the city claiming unlawful
search and seizure, assault and battery, and multiple violations of
Constitutional rights.
The officer, Kevin Corcoran,
has been named in other federal suits alleging police brutality.
Corcoran, 33, was on duty about
2 a.m. last Marchg 31 when he encountered a group of people at 13th and Lombard
Streets. A man in the group “commented that P/O Corcoran had made an illegal
turn,” according to a statement from the Philadelphia District Attorney’s
office.
Corcoran came closer to the
group in his cruiser, got out and yelled at them, prompting several in the
party to pull out their cell phones and record the encounter, the D.A.'s office
said.
Corcoran, a 9-year veteran of
the force, slapped one of the cell phones out of a person’s hand, stating
“Don’t f##?!g touch me,” according to the D.A.’s office.
Corcoran pressed on,
approaching the man who backed up with his hands up, making no contact with the
officer.
The officer shoved the man,
“grabbed him by the chest, threw him against the side of his police vehicle,
handcuffed him and threw him in to the back of his vehicle. Corcoran then sped
off with the victim in the back seat,” said the D.A.’s office.
The entire incident was
captured on video.
Corcoran drove north and soon
after pulled onto a street off North Broad.
When the victim asked why he
was being arrested, Corcoran claimed it was for public intoxication.
Corcoran did not fill out any
documents citing the man for public intoxication and had no evidence that could
prove the man was intoxicated, the D.A. said.
The man, who had never been
arrested before, told Corcoran he was vet. Corcoran had a change of heart and
returned the man to 13th and Rodman Streets, where he uncuffed the man and
released him without charges.
Corcoran surrendered himself to
Internal Affairs this morning. In addition to the false imprisonment count,
Corcoran was charged with obstructing the administration of law and official
oppression.
Previously, Corcoran was sued
in U.S. District Court for allegedly entering a home on 1630 S. Taney Street
without a warrant in Nov. 2008 and beating up a resident, leaving the man with
two broken vertebrae, a broken nose and a broken eye socket.
Corcoran was sued in federal
court for the Nov. 2009 beating of a South Philadelphia man who Corcoran and
another officer "kicked, stomped, beat, punched and otherwise
assaulted" leaving the man with broken bones and requiring stitched; in
May 2011, Corcoran allegedly arrested a man without probable cause at 21st and
Latona Street and "violently man handled" the man.
The 2008 and 2009 cases were
dismissed with prejudice by federal judges and the 2011 case remains open.
In addition, at least two civil
lawsuits have been brought against Corcoran in the Philadelphia Court of Common
Pleas.
In one suit, filed in June
2009, Corcoran was accused of striking a Grays Ferry man in the face, causing a
“blowout” fracture of the his orbital bone, then falsely accusing the man of
assault and possessing a controlled substance.
In a second, unrelated suit,
filed six months later, Corcoran was accused of beating a Willow Grove man and
throwing him headfirst into a newspaper box during a disorderly conduct arrest.
In each case, the defendant was
eventually cleared in court of criminal charges.
Both suits were settled for an
undisclosed amount in 2010, before they went to trial.
