NYPD Abuse Caught|on Tape, Teen Says

MANHATTAN (CN) - Video evidence shows two New York City police officers making a "sadistic assault" on a Bronx teen-ager, Luis Solivan claims in a federal complaint that made headlines here.

"The evening of November 14, 2011 started out as a fairly ordinary one for Luis Solivan," the complaint states. "That evening, he left his apartment on University Avenue in the Bronx, and walked to a local store, where he purchased cigarettes. He was unarmed, not engaged in any unlawful activity, and minding his own business."

Then for no apparent reason, Solivan claims, a police car made a U-turn, blared its sirens and parked outside his home.

Solivan claims defendant Officers Thomas DeKoker and Brian O'Keefe got out of the car, "broke down" his door and doused "Mace or pepper spray in his face almost immediately after entering the apartment."

"They beat Mr. Solivan in front of his mother and young siblings, causing substantial physical injury," the complaint states. "They beat him even after he was handcuffed. They hit him in the face with their walkie-talkies. They bashed his head against the wall so hard it left a hole in the wall. Park of this brutal and sadistic beating was captured on video."

Solivan, 19, claims DeKoker and O'Keefe kept brutalizing him at the 49th Precinct until he lost consciousness.

An ambulance eventually took him to St. Barnabas Hospital, where he was diagnosed with a blunt head injury, a broken nose and bruises, according to the complaint.

After he was treated, Solivan says, the police "falsely arrested, falsely detained, wrongfully imprisoned and maliciously prosecuted" him for weapons possession, assault, attempted robbery, attempted grand larceny and other charges.

Solivan says he spent about a week in Rikers Island prison before a grand jury threw out the charges against him.

"On information and belief, notwithstanding this unconscionable act of police brutality, Officers DeKoker and O'Keefe remain employed by the New York City Police Department, and continue to interact with the public," the complaint states.

Solivan demands punitive damages for excessive force, false arrest, malicious prosecution, assault, battery and negligence.

He is represented by Ilann Maazel, with Emery Celli Brinckerhoff & Abady LLP.

The New York Times reported that an unrelated civil rights suit against Dekoker and two other officers cost the city $500,000 in a case that ended this summer.

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