By Will Hagle,
A group of five young men who
were arrested for possession of a weapon and attempted assault after
accidentally hitting a transit cop with a snowball are now suing the New York
Police Department for $10 million.
The young men were arrested in
the Bronx by Sgt. Adonis Ramirez, who claimed he was attacked by a snowball.
The incident occurred in February 2010.
According to Officer Paola
Diaz, the officer charged with processing the paperwork that night, the word
“snowball” did not appear on the report that charged the five individuals with
criminal possession of a weapon. Diaz claimed responsibility for the mix-up.
“I made a mistake. It was a
hectic night. It was me by myself doing everything. I made a mistake in my
paperwork,” Diaz testified, according to the New York Daily News.
Ramirez himself testified that
he pulled his gun on the young men because he was being attacked with
snowballs.
“I was outnumbered and I wasn’t
taking any chances,” Ramirez said.
The young men that were
arrested, of course, view the events differently.
“We went from playing in the
snow to looking at the barrel of a gun. I saw the gun out and him screaming,”
said Manuel Rondon.
Even Ramirez himself has
changed his story since the initial incident occurred. Rather than being
attacked with multiple snowballs, Ramirez has since admitted that he had just
“one” snowball thrown at him, according to the New York Post. Ramirez was off
duty at the time.
Because of Ramirez's changing
story and Diaz's admission that she left the word "snowball" out of
her report, the five gentlemen have a likely chance of winning the case.
