Wounded Brooklyn Woman Held For 5 Days Says NYPD Tried To 'Get Me To Lie'
NEW YORK (1010 WINS) -- A 35-year-old Brooklyn mother claims the NYPD held her for 5 days in a precinct last month after she'd been shot without charging her. Now, she plans to sue the city for $5 million.
Takesha Griffin says her nightmare began with searing pain in her leg from a stray bullet. At the hospital, she says instead of helping her, police handcuffed her.
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"They took me to the 73rd Precinct, where detectives tried to get me to lie and say that I was in a lover's quarrel and shot by a friend, who was with me when I was struck by the bullet," Griffin said.
Griffin says she still doesn't know who fired the stray bullet that hit her in the leg on September 3. She says, however, that police didn't believe her and accused her of protecting her friend.
When she refused to lie, Griffin said police refused to let her go and handcuffed her to a bench for three days and later held her in isolation for two days. She says she was only fed a hamburger and a coke each day and never given any water.
Furthermore, she said she was forced to suffer the indignity of going without a bathroom and hygiene products while she she desperately needed when she was handcuffed to the bench.
"This is America. This should not be happening here," Griffin's attorney, Sanford Rubenstein, said, pointing out his client hadn't even been arrested.
Deputy Police Commissioner Paul Browne issued a statement Thursday night saying that Griffin was provided access to bathroom facilities in her individual cell.
"She was being held on an outstanding warrant, and claims that she was not brought to court in a timely fashion are being investigated," the statement read.
"I refused to lie and they kept me in the precinct for five days, trying to intimidate me and force me to lie," Griffin said. "I would ask them when was I leaving and no one knew, they just never came back,"
Rubenstein said the warrant was not valid because it had already been dismissed long before. Griffin was let go after a clerical error was discovered.
He also said Griffin was denied the right to face a judge within 24 hours.
"Here it wasn't 24 hours, it was five days," Rubenstein said. "Takesha was victimized not once, but twice."
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