EXCLUSIVE VIDEO: Raymond
Romero, 21, says NYPD officers slammed him to the ground, broke his pinkie
finger, Tasered him and used him as a punching bag. All because they claim he
didn't take his hands out of his pockets. The video shows otherwise.
BY ROCCO PARASCANDOLA
A video obtained by the Daily
News appears to back a Bronx man’s claims he was railroaded by cops on April
Fools’ Day.
Raymond Romero, 21, says NYPD
officers mistook him for a robber, slammed him to the ground, broke his pinkie
finger, Tasered him repeatedly and used him as a punching bag.
He contends he has been locked
up ever since on trumped-up charges, bolstered by lies that he refused orders
to take his hands out of his pockets, fought with police and spit on them.
“This is wrong!” Romero told
The News at the Brooklyn House of Detention. His lawyer has put the city on
notice that he intends to sue.
A video obtained by The News
appears to support part of Romero’s case, contradicting what police say
transpired the night of April 1 in front of Versatile barbershop on E. 163rd
St.
Officer Jose Reyes of the 41st
Precinct claimed in court papers that Romero matched a description of a suspect
they were searching for. Romero claimed cops told him they were looking for an
armed robber in a green hoodie.
Reyes noted he “observed
(Romero) to have his hands inside of his pants’ pockets, and ordered (him) to
remove his hands from his pockets.”
The cop charged that Romero
“began yelling . . . ‘No, I’m not f------ taking my hands out of my pocket.’ ”
But the surveillance video
obtained by The News appears to dispute Reyes’ account.
The footage shows Romero, who
was wearing a blue hoodie, smoking a cigarette outside the barbershop with his
hands clearly outside his pockets when a police cruiser, with lights flashing,
rolls up against traffic. In the video, one officer, identified as Reyes, grabs
Romero around the neck of his hoodie and pushes him into a storefront.
Romero, in turn, looks to be
grabbing Reyes’ hands in an attempt to free himself. Moments later, other cops
joined in and tackled Romero to the ground, cuffed him and carted him off.
“The police officer clearly
lied. Let the officer explain that,” said Romero’s lawyer, Alexander Sanchez,
adding that he hopes Reyes is charged with perjury. Reyes could not be reached
for comment. Both the NYPD and Bronx DA’s office said Romero’s allegations are
under investigation.
Romero says his nightmare
continued at the 41st Precinct, where he claims he was Tasered several times
and beaten by another group of cops after allegedly spitting on one of them.
His bad luck only got worse
when he went to court. A judge ordered Romero held without bail because he
violated terms of a February 2013 plea bargain on a drug-dealing case — by
getting rearrested.
