libertyjam
10-31-2011, 12:55 PM
http://www.brooklyneagle.com/categories/category.php?category_id=4&id=47060
A Bullet in the Leg, and Five Days in Handcuffs
Allegedly Held Captive by Police, Brooklyn Woman Sues
By Samuel Newhouse
Brooklyn Daily Eagle
COURT STREET — A Brooklyn woman who was shot in the leg and then detained for five days by NYPD officers who demanded that she confess her shooter’s identity is now suing the city.
Takesha Griffin, 35, of Brownsville, announced Thursday with her attorney Sanford Rubenstein that she plans to sue the city for $5 million for her ordeal, during which she was left handcuffed and helpless, urinating and menstruating on herself in front of male prisoners, she claims. Well-known Court Street attorney Rubenstein said yesterday that a Notice of Claim was filed with the city earlier this week.
Police were urging Griffin to confess that it was the same male friend who drove her to the hospital who had also shot her, which Griffin said was a “lie” and an experience like “The Twilight Zone.”
Griffin says she suffered emotional trauma and mental anguish as well as a loss of earnings capacity due to the incident.
“What happened to Takesha Griffin is something that would happen in a fascist state, not in America,” Rubenstein stated.
Criminal defendants have a constitutional right to be brought before a judge within 24 hours of being arrested. But Griffin didn’t get to Central Booking beneath Brooklyn Criminal Court until five days had elapsed.
Griffin, the mother of a 9-year-old son, was getting out of a friend’s pickup truck around 4 a.m. on Sept. 3 a block away from her apartment when she was hit in the leg by a stray bullet, she says.
Griffin said she heard a smack, felt a pain in her leg, then saw that her tights were crumpled inside where a bullet had struck her leg. She tugged the fabric, popping the bullet out, and then began bleeding profusely. Her friend then drove her to Brookdale Hospital.
Because a shooting was involved, police came to the hospital and found that Griffin had an outstanding warrant for failing to appear in court in 2009 for a disorderly conduct summons. They handcuffed her to a gurney and brought her to the 73rd Precinct after her wound was bandaged, she claims.
Detectives allegedly believed Griffin’s friend was the shooter, and that there had been a lovers’ quarrel. She insists her friend never had a gun and is not her lover — he is a gay man, she claimed, with whom she went to a gay club earlier.
The friend offered to submit to a lie-detector test and have his hands tested for gun-shot residue to prove that he wasn’t the shooter. He was released that morning, but Griffin was not.
Griffin says she was held in a holding cell until 1 p.m. that day, then allegedly brought to the precinct’s front desk and handcuffed to a bench for the next three days straight.
Griffin told the Daily News that she urinated on herself when she was refused an escort to the bathroom, was denied a sanitary napkin, and was only fed one McDonald’s hamburger each day. When she complained about food, a cop sarcastically suggested she order takeout.
On the next day, another officer allegedly mocked her, asking if she had changed her story yet and saying, “I guess you like it here.”
For two additional days, Griffin was held in a holding cell in isolation, she says.
On Sept. 7, Griffin’s mother brought her clean clothes, a sandwich, a toothbrush, soap, and a newspaper. Even though Brooklyn Criminal Court was open through the weekend when the arrest occurred, Griffin claims she still wasn’t brought to the court to be arraigned until Thursday, Sept. 8.
Court employees determined that Griffin’s outstanding warrant was erroneous, as well. Griffin had, in fact, appeared in court on the disorderly conduct violation, but due to a clerical error, her court appearance had not been recorded. Griffin was then released from police custody.
The notice of claim states that police officers have continued to call Griffin and drive by her home, harassing her, while the NYPD’s own Internal Affairs Bureau investigates the alleged misconduct. The notice also alleges that the officers are already trying to cover up their conduct.
A Bullet in the Leg, and Five Days in Handcuffs
Allegedly Held Captive by Police, Brooklyn Woman Sues
By Samuel Newhouse
Brooklyn Daily Eagle
COURT STREET — A Brooklyn woman who was shot in the leg and then detained for five days by NYPD officers who demanded that she confess her shooter’s identity is now suing the city.
Takesha Griffin, 35, of Brownsville, announced Thursday with her attorney Sanford Rubenstein that she plans to sue the city for $5 million for her ordeal, during which she was left handcuffed and helpless, urinating and menstruating on herself in front of male prisoners, she claims. Well-known Court Street attorney Rubenstein said yesterday that a Notice of Claim was filed with the city earlier this week.
Police were urging Griffin to confess that it was the same male friend who drove her to the hospital who had also shot her, which Griffin said was a “lie” and an experience like “The Twilight Zone.”
Griffin says she suffered emotional trauma and mental anguish as well as a loss of earnings capacity due to the incident.
“What happened to Takesha Griffin is something that would happen in a fascist state, not in America,” Rubenstein stated.
Criminal defendants have a constitutional right to be brought before a judge within 24 hours of being arrested. But Griffin didn’t get to Central Booking beneath Brooklyn Criminal Court until five days had elapsed.
Griffin, the mother of a 9-year-old son, was getting out of a friend’s pickup truck around 4 a.m. on Sept. 3 a block away from her apartment when she was hit in the leg by a stray bullet, she says.
Griffin said she heard a smack, felt a pain in her leg, then saw that her tights were crumpled inside where a bullet had struck her leg. She tugged the fabric, popping the bullet out, and then began bleeding profusely. Her friend then drove her to Brookdale Hospital.
Because a shooting was involved, police came to the hospital and found that Griffin had an outstanding warrant for failing to appear in court in 2009 for a disorderly conduct summons. They handcuffed her to a gurney and brought her to the 73rd Precinct after her wound was bandaged, she claims.
Detectives allegedly believed Griffin’s friend was the shooter, and that there had been a lovers’ quarrel. She insists her friend never had a gun and is not her lover — he is a gay man, she claimed, with whom she went to a gay club earlier.
The friend offered to submit to a lie-detector test and have his hands tested for gun-shot residue to prove that he wasn’t the shooter. He was released that morning, but Griffin was not.
Griffin says she was held in a holding cell until 1 p.m. that day, then allegedly brought to the precinct’s front desk and handcuffed to a bench for the next three days straight.
Griffin told the Daily News that she urinated on herself when she was refused an escort to the bathroom, was denied a sanitary napkin, and was only fed one McDonald’s hamburger each day. When she complained about food, a cop sarcastically suggested she order takeout.
On the next day, another officer allegedly mocked her, asking if she had changed her story yet and saying, “I guess you like it here.”
For two additional days, Griffin was held in a holding cell in isolation, she says.
On Sept. 7, Griffin’s mother brought her clean clothes, a sandwich, a toothbrush, soap, and a newspaper. Even though Brooklyn Criminal Court was open through the weekend when the arrest occurred, Griffin claims she still wasn’t brought to the court to be arraigned until Thursday, Sept. 8.
Court employees determined that Griffin’s outstanding warrant was erroneous, as well. Griffin had, in fact, appeared in court on the disorderly conduct violation, but due to a clerical error, her court appearance had not been recorded. Griffin was then released from police custody.
The notice of claim states that police officers have continued to call Griffin and drive by her home, harassing her, while the NYPD’s own Internal Affairs Bureau investigates the alleged misconduct. The notice also alleges that the officers are already trying to cover up their conduct.