NYPD officer dodges jail for stomping on man’s head, adds to ‘not uncommon’ cop crime stats
A New York Police Department officer has avoided hard time at
notorious Rikers Island prison for stomping on a head of a handcuffed
man despite cries for help. Aside from two years’ probation, the cop is
required to resign within 24 hours.
“This police officer intentionally and needlessly stomped on the head
of a suspect who had already been restrained by fellow officers,”
Brooklyn District Attorney Ken Thompson said at the sentencing Thursday.
“And he did so in broad daylight and in front of a crowd of people.”
In April, Joel Edouard, 38, was found guilty after an amateur video
showed him and other police officers arresting Jahmiel Cuffee in the
summer of 2014. It was Edouard who, during the attempted arrest, pointed
a gun at Cuffee and then kicked him in the head, despite bystanders
yelling that he was being recorded.
Cuffee suffered scrapes and bumps, a contusion, dizziness, headaches and nausea.
At first he was charged with attempting to tamper with evidence,
obstructing governmental administration and resisting arrest. As charges
were dropped for Cuffee, Edouard found himself under investigation.
“He deserved to spend time in jail for committing such a blatant act
of police brutality, but we accept the sentence imposed by the court,”
Thompson said.
The DA initially recommended sentencing Edouard to 60 days in Rikers Island prison and an additional two years’ probation.
However, Judge Alan Marrus imposed only a part of the recommendation,
explaining that he saw no “need to incarcerate” Edouard because “the
victim recovered and was compensated through civil judgement,” according
to the New York Daily News.
Marrus agreed with two years’ probation and also ordered Edouard, who
has been on modified assignment, to resign by his own choice.
“If the [Police] Commissioner doesn’t terminate the defendant in 24
hours, the defendant must turn in a letter of resignation,” said Marrus,
calling the case “a setback for police community relations.”
‘Police crimes not uncommon’
Since the 2014 police killing of an unarmed black teenager in
Ferguson, Missouri, law enforcement agencies across the US have seen
community relations significantly sour.
Michael Brown’s death at the hands of white officer Darren Wilson
touched off mass demonstrations in Ferguson and across the US against
racial profiling, police brutality, police impunity and the judicial
system in America.
A recent
study by
Bowling Green State University titled ‘Police integrity lost: a study
of law enforcement officers arrested’ has not enhanced that reputation
of police officers nationwide.
It revealed that US police officers get arrested about 1,100 times a
year, meaning that roughly three cops are charged every day. The data
covers 2,529 state and local law enforcement agencies from 1,205
counties and independent cities in all 50 states and the District of
Columbia.
“The first general observation is that police crimes are not
uncommon,” the study said. “Police officers get arrested for crimes with
some regularity in jurisdictions around the nation.”
Between 2005 and 2011, the period the study covered, the number of
arrest cases jumped from 444 to 1,238. In seven years, there were 6,724
criminal cases launched, leading to the arrest of 5,545 individual
police officers.
“These cases threaten to undermine public trust in both the authority
and legitimacy of state and local law enforcement organizations, and
the work of law-abiding sworn officers who go about their job
selflessly, efficiently, and professionally every day,” the study read.
The government-funded study reflects a broad range of offenses
committed by police, which are commonly related to sex, drugs, alcohol,
domestic violence and extortion.
Nearly 60 percent of those crimes “occurred when the officer was technically off-duty,” lead researcher Philip M. Stinson wrote.
At the same time, he explained, “a significant portion of these
so-called off-duty crimes also lies within the context of police work
and the perpetrator’s role as a police officer, including instances
where off-duty officers flash a badge, an official weapon, or otherwise
use their power, authority, and the respect afforded to them as a means
to commit crime.”
Read more:
Police body cams fail to curb officers’ use of force; linked to surge in assaults on cops – study
