Three police officers surrendered and were charged with felonies Tuesday for an attack on a tattoo parlor worker who authorities say was sodomized with a baton in a subway station.

Brooklyn District Attorney Charles Hynes announced an indictment charging Officer Richard Kern with aggravated sexual abuse and assault for allegedly ramming the baton into the victim’s anus. Fellow officers Alex Cruz and Andrew Morales were charged with hindering prosecution and official misconduct for allegedly covering up the crime.

DNA recovered from the baton “was matched to the victim,” prosecutor Charles Guria said during a court appearance at which the officers pleaded not guilty.

If convicted, Kern could face up to 25 years in prison; the others could face up to four years.

Defense attorneys say the officers didn’t do anything wrong.

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Irma Marquez, the day after her confrontation with Officer Wayne Simoes.

The lawyer for a Yonkers police officer accused of brutalizing a woman said today that a videotape of the incident appears to have been doctored.

Attorney Andrew Quinn said during a hearing in U.S. District Court in White Plains that he intends to ask for a dismissal of the indictment against the suspended police officer, Wayne Simoes.

Quinn said a videotape of the incident at La Fonda Restaurant appears to have been sped up to show a much faster interaction between Simoes and Irma Marquez, the 44-year-old home health care attendant who suffered severe bruising and a concussion when Simoes allegedly slammed her to the floor of the restaurant.

A spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office, which is prosecuting the officer, declined to comment.

Simoes, 39, was charged in June with violating Marquez’ rights in the March 3, 2007, incident. He was arrested by FBI agents a month after Marquez filed an $11.3 million civil rights lawsuit against the city and the videotape was splashed all over the media.

Marquez filed the lawsuit after she was cleared by a Yonkers jury of two misdemeanor charges.

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The trial of a pair of Calumet City police officers accused of using excessive force has been delayed to Jan. 14.

Keith Paprocki and Steven Lundy face charges of felony official misconduct and felony battery.

The trial was originally scheduled to start Nov. 6. On Thursday, Cook County Judge James B Linn said he was rescheduling the trial because witnesses have school.

Both Lundy and Paprocki were indicted in October 2007 by a Cook County grand jury. They are accused of punching a then-14-year-old boy while he and a then-16-year-old cousin were in a police station elevator in July 2007.

Outside the courtroom on Thursday, Paprocki’s defense attorney Robert Kuzas said he looked forward to seeing a “not guilty” headline in the newspaper after the trial takes place.

Paprocki, who had been with the Calumet City Police Department for about 18 months, and Lundy, a 27-year veteran, have pleaded not guilty to the charges.

Former Police Chief Rusty Larson filed departmental charges with Calumet City’s Board of Fire and Police Commissioners seeking to terminate the officers. The disciplinary hearing has been postponed pending the outcome of criminal proceedings.

Paprocki remains suspended without pay. Lundy retired from the Police Department in May.

The family of a 24-year-old Guatemalan man shot and killed by Fort Wayne police last December is suing in federal court.

On Dec. 23, Jose Baudilio Lemus-Rodriguez was shot to death by Fort Wayne police officer James Arnold after a traffic stop. In a lawsuit filed Friday in U.S. District Court in Fort Wayne, the estate of Lemus-Rodriguez, through representative Jaime Palma, names the city of Fort Wayne and Arnold as a police officer and an individual as defendants. The lawsuit claims Lemus-Rodriguez’s constitutional rights were violated by police, according to court documents.

The six-count lawsuit alleges excessive force, failure to train and supervise, a state law claim for a wrongful death, negligence, assault and battery and intentional infliction of emotional distress. Lemus-Rodriguez’s estate, which includes a young daughter in Guatemala, is seeking compensatory and punitive damages, according to court documents.

Lemus-Rodriguez was wanted in Allen County on two warrants for probation violation stemming from previous driving offenses, including operating a vehicle while intoxicated and driving without a license or with a false or fictitious registration.

When he disregarded a stop sign, Lemus-Rodriguez drew the attention of an off-duty detective, police said previously. Lemus-Rodriguez stopped briefly, then led police to Oxford Street and Warsaw Avenue, where his vehicle crashed into a sign in front of Mount Calvary Missionary Baptist Church.

Police said Arnold, who had been on the police force less than four months at the time of the shooting, fired multiple shots into Lemus-Rodriguez’s vehicle, believing officers were in danger.

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Duana Johnson

A transwoman whose videotaped beating at the hands of police helped spark a movement to fight police brutality in Memphis was found shot to death Nov. 9.

A Nov. 11 article at the Memphis Commercial Appeal said that Duanna Johnson, 43, suffered a gunshot wound to the head and died at the site of the shooting in North Memphis.

Johnson’s arrest for prostitution last winter led to a police interrogation in which Johnson–formerly known as Dwayne Johnson–was beaten by police officers.

When Johnson’s lawyer provided a video of the beating, two Memphis policemen–Bridges McRae and James Swain–were dismissed from the force, the article said.

A lawsuit stemming from the beating will go forward despite Johnson’s death, said her lawyer, Murray Wells.

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Two years later, the Kathryn Johnston case is back where it started —- with the Atlanta Police Department.

The November 2006 killing of the 92-year-old woman by a rogue drug squad in her own home has been solved. Early on, federal investigators echoed suspicions of the community that such corruption was widespread. But in closing the investigation, they now say the wrongdoing was more isolated. Atlanta police last week said they were starting a task force to investigate internal wrongdoing.

Yet questions persist. Narcotics officers told investigators they cut corners, faked search warrants, planted drugs and raided homes because of pressure from superiors to make arrests. There were complaints from other officers that there were performance quotas, a charge higher-ups always denied.

But there never has been a public explanation about whether allegations about pressure from superiors were accurate, and if so, who was applying it. Also, did any higher-ups know how the drug unit operated? Or why they didn’t know?

There were thoughts this would uncover a huge ring of corruption in the Police Department. It never did,” said William McKenney, an attorney for narcotics officer Arthur Tesler, who late last month pleaded guilty to federal charges in connection with Johnston’s death. “The nine and two was the catalyst —- the nine arrests and two warrants each officer was required to get [each month].

It’s difficult to stay within a quota and abide by the rules,” McKenney said. “[The federal investigation] never addressed the question of where they came up with the numbers and why there was no accountability in that unit. That was the real failure. This investigation addressed the symptoms, not the cause. It’s difficult to believe this corrupt unit could be functioning at the rate it did without no one over the rank of sergeant knowing about it.

Others, such as state Sen. Vincent Fort (D-Atlanta), say the full findings of the investigation that were turned over to the Atlanta police need to be made public.

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Ten members of Iraq Veterans Against the War (IVAW) and five of their civilian supporters will be arraigned here Monday, November 10th for “Disorderly Conduct” stemming from arrests at a non-violent demonstration at Hofstra University during the final presidential debate.

The peaceful demonstration, designed to force veterans’ issues into the campaign spotlight, was responded to with police brutality resulting in serious injuries to one Iraq veteran when he was trampled by a police horse that charged onto a sidewalk.

IVAW’s Nick Morgan suffered a shattered cheek bone, among other injuries, after he was pulled to the ground by police and stepped on by one of their horses. He is still undergoing a series of reconstructive surgeries to repair damage done by the Nassau County Police Department.

It remains unclear how the entirety of the Hempstead 15 will plead to charges Monday, but one member, Sgt. Matthis Chiroux, vowed never to submit to police brutality or the infringement of his constitutional rights to peacefully assemble.

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Michael Mineo, 24, says the officers beat him and sodomized him with a foreign object, after they tried to arrest him at the Prospect Park subway station.

After giving his testimony today, Mineo thanked all of his friends who have supported him through the ordeal. He said he has gained strength from their belief in what happened.

Mineo did not discuss the details of his testimony, but said he believes he will see justice served.

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Two Danville men are suing the West Virginia State Police over beatings in separate incidents they say occurred in the Logan detachment while both men were handcuffed and shackled to the floor.

According to two lawsuits filed Wednesday by Charleston attorney Mark French, troopers detained Donald Bradley and William Ball following traffic stops on March 15 and March 22, respectively.

The lawsuits identify the troopers only by their last names. Troopers Wellman, Simmons and Williams, plus one identified as “John Doe” are accused of assaulting Bradley, while troopers Wellman, Simmons, Moore and “John Doe” are accused of beating Ball.

State Police superintendent Col. David Lemmon and the State Police also are named as defendants in both lawsuits.

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Three Schenectady police officers are facing charges tonight in connection with a case of alleged police brutality — but that’s not what they’re being charged for.

Instead, they could face jail time for not turning on a patrol car camera and for not filing a departmental form.

This stems from an incident back in December — when Donald Randolph accused five officers of beating him up when they arrested him for drunk driving.

The attorney general’s office took over the case as special prosecutor, seeking indictments, and it got them, but the officers’ attorneys say the charges are laughable.

Suspended Schenectady police officers Eric Reyell, Andrew Karaskiewicz and Gregory Hafensteiner reported to county court this morning to be arraigned on counts of official misconduct.

Reyell is accused of not turning on an in-car camera the night Donald Randolph was arrested for drunk driving and allegedly beaten on Union Street.

All three are accused of failing to file a use of force form to justify their actions that night. more