Police commission hears abuse claims
2 young black men accuse city officers
The city Police Commission heard closed- door testimony Wednesday from two young black men who claim they were abused by city police, and supporters demanded changes to community patrol standards and a more transparent system for filing police misconduct complaints.
Meeting at City Hall, the commission took testimony from the two men individually, but it took no action pending further review.
One of the men made additional
statements outside the closed hearing, telling his version of events.
Fabian Marshall, 27, was arrested in September 2015 on Broadway while waiting for a ride to work. He claims to have been punched and tased 21 times by officers who mistakenly identified him as a suspect in a reported assault and attempted to interview him.
Marshall was convicted of obstructing governmental administration, a misdemeanor, on Nov. 3. His sentencing is scheduled for Jan. 8, 2018.
His first-hand account of the incident, made during an impromptu news conference held during an executive session of the police commission, raised questions about racial equality and law enforcement.
“As I walked ... to get against the wall, I get tackled and I’m trying to stay calm, I’m sitting still, and the next thing you know, I’m flipped, punched, tased,” Marshall said. “It’s 25 years of being a good person, good behavior and trying to stay out of trouble down the drain because I was walking to work.”
A second defendant, Adrin Brodhead, 24, also spoke to the commission behind closed doors but did not make any public statement.
Brodhead was arrested July 20 by Kingston police in front of the 440 Pizzeria on Broadway in Midtown and charged with resisting arrest, a misdemeanor, for not putting his hands behind his back when told to do so by police, and with violating the city’s open-container ordinance and littering.
His case is pending in City Court.
Kingston Mayor Steven Noble, who chairs the Police Commission, limited his comments after the executive session.
“We heard the complaints from the folks who made the complaints and, you know, we’re evaluating all that information and we’ll be meeting again next month to continue our work,” he said.
Kingston Police Chief Egidio Tinti, also on the commission, said the commission is taking the allegations seriously.
“Out of that meeting, there have been some requests for more information, and I think they have heard the concerns and are moving forward with a lot of those considerations,” Tinti said.
Marshall said he was hopeful.
“It’s bigger than me at this point. I’d love to get some justice, but it has to go further than me,” he said. “I’ll let you know when I see it, but I’ve yet to see it.”
His aunt, Anne Marie Crooks, who said she was a witness to the arrest, said she was horrified as Marshall lay on the ground twitching from repeated taser shocks, blood coming out of his ears.
“What I witnessed my nephew go through, I don’t want to see anybody ever go through again,” Crooks said.
Her screams for mercy can be heard clearly on a police dash cam recording of the incident.
Callie Jayne, lead organizer of Citizen Action of the Hudson Valley, said she has information about numerous other Kingston incidents in which victims, fearing retaliation, are too terrified to come forward.
“Having listened to these stories in my city, I need you to understand that there is something wrong, and something needs to be changed, because we have people here who are scared to call the police, and walk down the street,” Jayne told the commissioners.
Last month, the Police Commission heard a separate complaint about a person allegedly having languished in jail for five days with a broken nose and broken fingers before receiving medical care.