BY BRENDAN BROSH /
New video of the controversial
Bronx snowball arrest appears to show an off-duty cop quickly drawing his gun
just seconds after being hit by a single snowball.
The footage seems to contradict
Officer Adonis Ramirez's insistence that he was pelted "on the back by
multiple snowballs" before turning his weapon on a group of friends.
The so-called "Snowball
Four" made headlines after February's blizzard when they were charged with
criminal possession of a weapon - snowballs.
Ramirez's fellow cops reported
that he was taunted in Spanish and chased down the street "in a
threatening manner," police sources said at the time.
Instead, Ramirez is seen
walking out of 1422 Nelson Ave. when he is hit by one of the snowball, the
friends admit they were tossing at each other. They denied they targeted the
officer.
In the video, Ramirez, a
seven-year NYPD veteran, pulls his gun 15 seconds after the snowball is thrown
and orders the young men to the ground.
The group said he never said he
was an officer.
"He pulled out the gun and
aimed it at me when he was 3 feet away. I thought he was going to kill
me," said Manuel Rondon, 18, a student at Monroe College.
The Bronx district attorney
dropped the case against them earlier this month, citing "insufficient
evidence."
Neil Wollerstein, a lawyer for
the four friends, ranging in age from 17 to 22, is now suing the city for $10
million.
"He's creating a dangerous
situation by taking out his weapon," said Wollerstein, who got the video
from the building's security firm, Sentry Communications. "It's definitely
an abuse of power and authority."
The NYPD declined comment on
the video last night.
