Settlement In Sex Torture Lawsuit
Abner Louima, victim of one of the worst police brutality cases in New York City history when he was sexually tortured in a police station in 1997, has reportedly reached a $9 million civil settlement that dropped his demands to reform the New York City police department.
That's according to The Daily News, which says the city and the police union - the Patrolmen's Benevolent Association - expect to sign the agreement at a court hearing set for March 28.
The paper says the breakthrough in months of negotiations came when former security guard Louima gave up his bid to break down the so-called "Blue Wall of Silence" - specifically, a rule that allows officers under suspicion to avoid police questioning for 48 hours over alleged excessive use of force.
"It appears Louima caved on that," the newspaper quoted one unidentified lawyer in the case as saying. "I guess he wanted the money."
Since Louima was attacked in 1997, however, the NYPD has eliminated the 48-hour rule for sergeants, lieutenants and captains and has vowed to extend that to police officers in contract negotiations with the union.
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In the early hours of Aug. 9, 1997, Louima was beaten by police officers after his arrest in a street melee outside a nightclub. One officer rammed a stick into his rectum in the bathroom of Brooklyn's 70th precinct stationhouse.
The civil rights lawsuit he eventually filed described the events in the Brooklyn stationhouse as "the most shameful, vicious and cruel acts of police brutality in the history of New York City."
Four police officers were convicted on criminal charges in an emotional trial in Brooklyn federal court in 1999. Justin Volpe, the officer who admitted sexually torturing Louima, was sentenced to 30 years in prison, while Charles Schwarz was convicted of restraining Louima in the bathroom and is serving 15 years.
Schwarz and two other officers, Thomas Bruder and Thomas Wiese, were convicted of conspiring to cover up Schwarz's role.
The racially-charged attack - Louima is black and his attackers are white - shocked the city and mobilized civil rights activists to demand reform of the nation's largest police force.
The Louima case - combined with the 1999 shooting death of Amadou Diallo, who was hit by 41 bullets fired by police - fueled a series of demonstrations alleging widespread use of excessive force by police, especially against minorities.
Diallo's family has filed an $81 million wrongful death suit against the city. That case is pending.
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