Staten Island man sues city after false arrest
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. - A false arrest and a conviction in a
Brooklyn shooting cost him more than two years of his life and left him
emotionally and physically scarred, a Staten Island resident alleges.
Lawrence Williams was raped and beaten in prison, prevented
from attending his mother's funeral and separated from his wife and children,
according to a lawsuit recently filed in Brooklyn federal court.
Williams, who was convicted in March 2010 of a shooting two
years earlier in Coney Island, maintains he was victimized by mistaken
identification and overzealous cops who "knowingly forwarded false,
unreliable and otherwise misleading evidence" to prosecutors and failed to
vigorously pursue evidence that could have cleared him.
Williams' conviction was reversed on Oct. 26 of last year,
based on the recommendation of the Brooklyn district attorney's office.
The lawsuit, filed in Brooklyn federal court, seeks
unspecified compensatory and punitive damages and names the city and several
cops as defendants. Williams alleges civil rights violations and malicious
prosecution.