- Police Brutality Watch

Two Metropolitan Transportation Authority police officers have been indicted in connection with the beating of a homeless man they threw out of Penn Station. Prosecutors said they have videotape of the incident. Sgt. Joseph Camean, 32, and Officer Michael Koenig, 34, pleaded not guilty Tuesday when they were arraigned in Manhattan's state Supreme Court. Justice Michael R. Ambrecht released both without bail and told them to return to court Nov. 18. Assistant District Attorney Andrew Heffner said Camean and Koenig ejected Maurice Cherry, 35, from Penn Station around 3 a.m. on Jan. 18, 2004. He said Cherry mouthed off to Koenig, who hit him in the head with a metal baton. "There was absolutely no justification for this assault, according to witnesses," Heffner said. "He (Cherry) went into the fetal position when Koening was hitting him," the prosecutor said. "There is videotape evidence in this case." Witnesses reported the incident to Amtrak police, who told both Camean and the MTA, Heffner said. He said the MTA told its police internal affairs bureau, which investigated along with the district attorney's office. The officers were arrested in August. Koening, on the force for four years, was charged with second-degree assault, falsifying business records and official misconduct. He faces up to seven years in prison if convicted of assault, the indictment's top count. [more

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