Herminio Pizarro was awarded $2
million for pain and $1 million in punitive damages. Pizarro said he still has
not recovered from the Aug. 4, 2007 beatdown at the 40th Precinct stationhouse
after a confrontation at a street fair. Pizarro said he still wants the NYPD to
investigate the cops involved.
BY ROCCO PARASCANDOLA
It took seven years, but
Herminio Pizarro finally has some measure of justice after being beaten
senseless by a gang of cops in a stationhouse bathroom.
That measure would be $3
million.
A Bronx jury Thursday granted
the multimillion-dollar award to the former state correction officer who says
he still hasn’t fully recovered from the Aug. 4, 2007, beatdown at the 40th
Precinct stationhouse after a confrontation at a street fair.
“They dragged me to the
bathroom, two cops, and I said that I didn’t need to use the bathroom,” Pizarro
told the Daily News. “There were five cops waiting for me in there. They threw
me to the ground. They were kicking me, hitting me, punching me.”
Pizarro had two neck surgeries
and lost his construction job.
“I can’t even dance with my
lady,” he said.
The jury awarded $2 million for
pain and suffering and $1 million in punitive damages, which Pizarro said ends
years of stress. But he still wants the NYPD to investigate the officers
involved.
“They lied,’’ he said. “They
came here under oath and they were lying.”
The NYPD had no comment and
wouldn’t say if it conducted an investigation when Pizarro filed his lawsuit in
2008. In court papers, however, police painted Pizarro as the aggressor in the
Bronx incident.
They said he whacked Officer
William Kelly over the head with a baton stolen from Officer Efrain Morales.
Pizarro was arrested on assault
and robbery charges. But all charges were dropped.
“You never see that happen with
an assault on a police officer,” said his lawyer, Raymond Gazer. “What does
that tell you?”
