Brooklyn Men Claim Cops Arrested Them for Not Turning Over White Castle Sliders
Two Brooklyn men are alleging that cops tried to steal their White Castle burgers and, when denied, arrested them. They're suing the city of New York and the officers over the incident, which they say took place in Coney Island on October 31, 2012, immediately following Hurricane Sandy.
The cops in question were rounding up looting suspects when plaintiffs Danny Maisonet and Kenneth Glover got out of a taxi with a bag full of White Castle sliders. The suit, filed in Brooklyn Federal Court, says several cops demanded Glover and Maisonet hand over the burgers, which they refused to do.
The officers ordered plaintiffs to get on the ground, and asked them what they were doing.
Plaintiff explained that they were getting food.
The officers, including defendants (Angelo) Pizarro, struck plaintiff in the back with their knees and flashlights.
Despite the fact that they had no probable cause to believe that he had committed any crimes or offenses, defendants, including defendant Pizzarro, placed plaintiff under arrest.
The officers transported the two men to the 61st Street precinct, where they were held for two days before being taken to central booking, according to the suit. The men were later arraigned in Kings County Criminal Court on charges of disorderly conduct and obstructing government administration. After several court appearances, all charges against them were eventually dismissed.
The officers say they arrested Maisonet and Glover for interfering as they were trying to pursue looting suspects.
In their lawsuit against the cops, Maisonet and Glover say they were stopped and searched without reasonable suspicion, arrested without probable cause, and that the cops used unreasonable force against them. They say they've suffered emotional distress, mental anguish, fear, pain, bodily injury, anxiety, embarrassment, humiliation, and reputation damage and assert that these injuries "were a direct and proximate result of (the City) and the NYPD's wrongful de facto policies … and repeated failure of the defendant City and the NYPD to properly supervise, train and discipline their police officers."
