Postal Worker Sues NYPD For $100 Million After Detectives Allegedly Beat Him
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) -- A U.S. postal worker is filing a lawsuit against the NYPD, after two officers were indicted for allegedly assaulting him.
As CBS2's Hazel Sanchez reported, postal worker Karim Baker, 26, is asking for a $100 million apology from the department. He said he feels police were out to get him after he happened to give directions to cop killer Ismaaiyl Brinsley back in 2014.
"I've been going through, like, a life of terror; just in fear -- living in fear," Baker said.
Baker said in December 2014, Brinsley – a total stranger – approached him asking for directions to the Marcy Houses development in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn. It happened just before Brinsley went on to kill NYPD detectives Rafael Ramos and Wenjian Liu at that location.
Baker, who held a news conference with his attorney on Thursday, said police have seemingly been taking revenge against him by harassing him and his family ever since that tragic day.
He said the worst confrontation was in October of last year, when he claimed two NYPD detectives stopped him for an alleged parking violation and viciously beat him.
"At that moment, I was just thinking: 'I don't want to live. I don't want to be here,'" he said. "I didn't do nothing but get in my car."
Detectives Angelo Pampena, 31, and Robert Carbone, 29, have been charged with assaulting Baker in the Oct. 21, 2015 incident on 96th Street in Corona, Queens.
Baker said he was getting into his car on 96th Street after finishing up his shift as a postal worker. He said the two plainclothes detectives pulled up into an unmarked car and asked him for identification, accusing him of parking too close to a fire hydrant.
Baker said when he pointed out to the officers that he was 20 feet away from the hydrant, an argument erupted and he called 911.
"They began punching him, kicking him through the window up until they got his driver side door open," said attorney Eric Subin. "Mr. Baker was then grabbed by the two officers and thrown onto the curb, where they proceeded to punch him with haymakers; stomp on his head, and kick him until additional officers showed up."
Baker claimed the additional officers also attacked him. His voice trembled as he talked about the incident, 1010 WINS' Juliet Papa reported.
"They beat on me just like the first two officers did, and the only thing I could feel was just feeling that I was about to take my last breath," he said.
Baker's attorney said a 911 call recording and surveillance video captured audio and visual evidence of the alleged beating.
Baker was taken to Elmhurst Hospital Center after the incident and was later charged with disorderly conduct. According to officials, the criminal case against Baker was dismissed.
Pampena is facing charges of second and third-degree assault, second-degree perjury, offering a false instrument for filing and official misconduct. Carbone, who was with the NYPD for eight years, is charged with second and third-degree assault.
The NYPD would not comment on the case, only saying the two detectives have been suspended without pay, and could face seven years in prison if found guilty.
