AP NEW YORK – Three police officers surrendered Tuesday on felony charges stemming from claims by a tattoo parlor worker that he was sodomized with a piece of police equipment during an arrest. Officer Richard Kern has been charged with aggravated sexual abuse and assault; Officers Alex Cruz and Andrew Morales have been charged with hindering prosecution and official misconduct, according to prosecutors. In addition to those felonies, all three were charged with misdemeanors, including falsifying records.
They were indicted last week by a grand jury investigating the shocking allegations. The officers turned themselves in at the Brooklyn district attorney's office Tuesday to be processed for a court appearance. A law enforcement official said the grand jury had been presented incriminating forensic evidence collected by investigators. That evidence, combined with the eyewitness account of a fellow officer, pointed to Kern as a primary suspect, according to the official, who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the indictment was not yet unsealed.
Defense attorneys say the officers didn't do anything wrong. "We don't know what the people's proof is, but as far as I'm concerned my client is not guilty," said Kern's attorney, John Patten.
Said Cruz's lawyer, Stuart London, "He never observed any misconduct nor engaged in any misconduct."
The accused officers approached Michael Mineo on Oct. 15 outside a subway station because they believed he was smoking marijuana, police said. When he fled into the station, they and two other uniformed officers wrestled him to the ground face down and handcuffed him.
Mineo, a 24-year-old body piercer, claims that during the struggle his pants were pulled down and one of the officers sodomized him as he screamed out in pain. He says he believed he was violated with the antenna of a handheld radio and that the assailant was Cruz.
But a transit officer called as a grand jury witness early last month testified that he saw Kern wield a baton and put it near Mineo's buttocks, according to one of the law enforcement officials. The transit officer was among those who helped subdue Mineo, but he has not been charged.
After Mineo was given a ticket for disorderly conduct and released, he was hospitalized for several days. Hospital discharge papers show that upon arrival he was diagnosed with "anal assault."
The district attorney's office launched the grand jury investigation in late October when the allegations came to light. The officers were placed on desk duty pending the outcome of the case.