The Usual Suspects

REPRINTED FROM APRIL 1997.

Quality of life criminals are stored in the New York Police Department database. If a major crime takes place, then Mayor Giuliani will place his left hand behind Police Commissioner Howard Safir’s back as the Commissioner commands the police - in his best Captain Louis Renault impersonation - to round up the usual suspects. The mayor will smile for the cameras, will be careful not to move his lips while the Commissioner is speaking, and if Giuliani is feeling particularly bold, he might drink a glass of water while Safir is barking orders to the police.

Combating quality of life crimes is a fascinating strategy. The police concentrated on reducing crime by targeting quality of life crimes “on the belief that those who commit small crimes go on to commit big ones” such as a person pissing in a doorway, jumping a turnstile, or panhandling. The NYPD augments their vast database with more fingerprints of actual or potential criminals. Either the police solve an old crime, or have a potential suspect for a future crime. In addition, the NYPD will hold the careless ruffian in custody long enough to establish a connection to another crime.

It is not enough to arrest people for pissing in doorways, jumping turnstiles, or panhandling. More quality of life irritations should be criminalized. The police will have a larger database of suspects. Remember, “Those who commit small crimes go on to commit big ones.”

For example, Chris G. is a potential suspect if the police are looking for an overactive photographer. He was photographing the Crown Heights riots, was charged with assaulting the police, resisting arrest and obstruction after the police officers on the scene beat him. The charges were later dropped.

Oliver J. is a potential suspect if the police are looking for a loud mouth who likes to stand on street corners. He “was standing outside his Bronx apartment [building] among a crowd of onlookers whom the police tried to move after arresting another man.” Somebody shouted, “Police brutality!” Oliver J. was charged with “stealing a police radio and resisting arrest” after the police on the scene beat him. The charges were later dropped.

Ron N. is a potential suspect if the police are looking for someone who does not mind his own business. Mr. N. thought he was witnessing a racist attack, but it turned out to be eight undercover narcotics cops beating up a drug suspect. Ron N. asked the men to stop, but instead was charged with disorderly conduct, resisting arrest, and obstruction. The charges were eventually dropped.

Keith P. is another suspect if the police are looking for someone who is not minding his own business. He was charged with disorderly conduct and resisting arrest. Keith P. was appalled when an officer threw his “female companion about 10 feet in the air. Several officers set upon him, wrestling him to the ground, kicking and beating him with their nightsticks” after he told the police “You can’t do that! This is our neighborhood.” The charges were later dropped.

Yet another person not minding her own business - Judith R. was “pulled from a cab by her hair, handcuffed, and arrested after she criticized an officer for berating her cab driver over a faulty tail light.”

Marcos M. is a potential suspect if the police are looking for a Hispanic armed robber. Marcos M. was working in a supermarket when two men entered to rob the store. “When the police arrived, one of the suspects fled, and the other - who was holding” Marcos M. hostage in the basement - “was shot in the face and wounded.” Marcos M. walked out of the basement with his hands up, “and told the officers that he worked in the store.” The police officers “handcuffed him behind his back, threw him on the floor, and repeatedly hit him on the back of the head with their pistols and nightsticks, and kicked him in the back, chest and legs.” Furthermore, “while handcuffed on the floor, an officer put a gun into his mouth, used an ethnic slur, and threatened to blow his head off.

Greg M. is a potential suspect if the police are looking for a homosexual who was hit with a bottle, and complained about it. Greg M. “was harassed in Times Square by a group of teenagers who threw a bottle at him because he was gay. When he sought assistance from a police officer, he was allegedly hit, handcuffed, dragged across the ground and verbally abused by the officer who accused Greg M. of being a fag basher himself.”

Ann H. is a potential suspect if the police are looking for a 71-year-old diabetic drug dealer. She was driving her car when she felt dizzy. She stopped her car, and “was eating peanuts when the car was surrounded by three plain clothes police officers. Ann H. did not know the identities of the three men. She was too intimidated to open the door. Suddenly, the undercover officers “smashed the car window, forced the door open, and [dragged] her out of the car. She was taken to a hospital... and forced to have her stomach pumped.” The police officers thought she was swallowing evidence. “No drugs were found, but she was charged with assault and reckless endangerment.” The charges were later dropped.

Unfortunately, some New Yorkers will no longer be perpetual suspects. The police will spare them the indignity of continual harassment because they died in police custody - died because they committed minor irritations that some might consider quality of life crimes.

Ernest Sayon died in police custody, and will no longer be a suspect if the police are looking for someone who disrupts police work with firecrackers. On April 29, 1994, the police were searching for drugs in a Staten Island neighborhood, “were in the process of arresting another man when a firecracker exploded, approached Ernest Sayon, and arrested him.” Mr. Sayon “suffocated because of pressure on his back, chest and neck while he lay face down on the ground with his hands cuffed behind him. A private autopsy... found evidence of suffocation or asphyxiation, with lacerations also to the top of his head, bruises and contusions to his face and back.” It was “reported that Sayon” ran from the scene and resisted arrest - “a version contradicted by” several eyewitnesses.

Jacques Camille will no longer be a suspect if the police are looking for a Haitian taxicab driver who doesn’t carefully screen his fares. On April 9, 1992, two men robbed an individual. The robbers hailed a cab, and tried to escape, but the victim memorized the cab’s number. The police were able to track the robbers down. Camille’s cab was stopped. “Several witnesses said that Mr. Camille’s hands were raised when the officer fired a single shot which destroyed a kidney and part of his liver.” The cabby was in his first week of employment when he “unwittingly taken the robbers on board.”

Anibal Carasquillo will no longer be a suspect if the police are looking for someone who likes to peak into the windows of parked cars. On January 22, 1995, police officers witnessed Mr. Carasquillo “peering into parked car windows.” The police report stated he “was shot in the chest after turning to face the police officer in a ‘gun stance.’ However, the New York City Medical examiner reported that the autopsy had shown he was shot in the back.” Remarkably, a grand jury panel failed to indict the police officer involved in the death of Anibal.

Ironically, Anibal Carasquillo’s relatives were arrested and charged with “obstructing governmental administration” while protesting the failure of the district attorney’s office failure to indict the police officer involved in the case.

Lydia Ferraro will no longer be a suspect if the police are looking for a white woman who thinks she is driving in the Daytona 500. On April 27, 1988, Ms Ferraro made an “improper turn against traffic lights.” Remember, “Those who commit small crimes go on to commit big ones.” The police thought she was in East Harlem to buy drugs because that is the only reason for a white woman to be in that area. “Ms Ferraro’s was eventually cut off and stopped.” A police officer opened the car door, but she tried to get away. The police officer fired a shot at her. Suddenly, four police officers opened fire on Ms Ferraro. After the smoke cleared, sixteen shots were fired, and Ms Ferraro was a victim of multiple gun shot wounds.

Yong Xin Huang will no longer be a suspect if the police are looking for a sixteen-year-old Chinese boy who likes to play cops and robbers with his friends. On March 25, 1995 Huang and two other boys were playing with a pellet gun. A local resident with an overactive imagination called the police. The 911call described “Asian males” ranging in the ages of 14 - 16 playing with something that might be a real gun. Unfortunately, the young boy died of a gunshot wound “at close range behind his left ear.” The police officer claimed the that the gun went off accidentally while struggling with a sixteen year old boy, but the officer could not account for the “blunt impact wounds to the top of Huang’s head, face and forehead.” Maybe Huang sustained those injuries when the police officer slammed his face “into a glass door at the side of the house which was shattered during the incident.” Predictably, “no criminal charges” were filed against the police officer involved in Huang’s death.

Douglas Orfaly will no longer be a suspect if the police are looking for a Hispanic man sitting in a parked car. On March 3, 1992, a police officer was looking for a burglar. The amazingly perceptive officer thought Orfaly matched the description of the burglar because all Hispanics look alike. As the astonishingly alert police officer approached the car, he noticed Douglas made a sudden movement. Displaying amazing accuracy, the officer shot Mr. Orfaly “once through the head through the car window.” This police officer made New York City history when he was the first member of the NYPD “to be convicted of an on duty homicide since 1977.” He “was sentenced to one to four years’ in prison.” That is the price a police officer pays for murdering someone who was sitting in a parked car. It is interesting to note that a jury convicted the officer of “criminally negligent homicide.”

Anthony Baez will no longer be a suspect if the police are looking for a Hispanic man with a wild throwing arm. On December 22, 1994, Anthony Baez was throwing a football around with his brothers outside his family’s Bronx home at 1:30 a.m.

A squad car was parked when a second car parked next to it. An errant pass hit Police Officer Francis Livotti’s squad car. Livotti, fearing for the safety of the car’s roof lights, ordered the brothers to go home. The brothers were walking away when a second errant pass hit Livotti’s car. Instantly, the officer got out of the car, and in authoritative voice said: “Look, I thought I made it clear, I was asking you, now I’m telling you. Get the fuck home!” Officer Livotti was upset because “they weren’t doing what I told them to do. It always bothers me a little when people don’t do what I tell them.”

David Baez refused to leave. Officer Livotti arrested David, “then told Anthony Baez he was under arrest when he shoved him the chest. Baez refused to be cuffed and walked away.” Livotti dashed after Baez, tried to handcuff him, but Baez “locked his arms in front of his torso.”

Livotti asked Baez to “put your hands behind your back. Let’s not make a big deal about it.” But Baez refused. The police officer “grabbed him, placed him a choke hold; he and other officers present then allegedly knelt on his back while handcuffing him behind his back as he lay face down on the ground.” The police officers ignored Anthony Baez’s family appeal for restraint.

Anthony Baez died in police custody of an “asthma attack.” The Medical Examiner’s office contradicted the police, “concluded that Baez’s death was caused by asphyxia due to compression of the neck and chest as well as acute asthma, and classified the death as a homicide. A pathologist hired by the family found bruises on the scalp, wrists, hands and neck, and evidence of internal bleeding around the eyes (another sign of asphyxia).” Anthony Baez died because Police Officer Livotti was afraid an errant pass was going to “damage the cruiser’s roof lights.”

Bronx Supreme Court Justice Gerald Sheindlin acquitted Francis Livotti of criminally negligent homicide in a nonjury trial.

New York City is safer today thanks to Mayor Giuliani’s aggressive police tactics. A few New Yorkers lost their lives, but that is the price the mayor is willing to pay to make us feel safe.

To combat the notion that cops are ruthless, the NYPD is promoting CPR (Courtesy, Professionalism, Respect), a public relations gimmick designed “to overcome minority communities’ distrust of police.” Unfortunately, “the NYPD leaves a trail of law enforcement tactics that African Americans charge are abusive.”

Rudolph Giuliani is not responsible for the havoc created by the vaunted NYPD. Some of these incidents occurred before he took office. But the mayor enjoys taking credit for all of their success, therefore he should be held responsible for all their failures as police officers and as human beings during his term. Mayor Giuliani should not have it any other way.

Andy Warhol once said that in a more perfect world everyone would be allowed to be famous for 15 minutes. Presumably, this would end envy, and we would all be happier. In Mayor Giuliani’s perfect world, or at least a more perfect New York City, every citizen would be fingerprinted, and register an address at the local precinct.

God bless you if you agree with the mayor’s approach to fighting quality of life crimes. Just don’t complain or curse the mayor’s ancestry when a cop gives you a ticket because your big butt took up too much space in the subway.