Form [HERE] AN OUTRAGED judge slammed a racist NYPD cop with 57 months in prison for falsely arresting a black man and participating in an off-duty beating of another victim.
Michael Daragjati destroyed his police career by getting caught on an FBI wiretap spewing racial slurs and boasting how he had “fried another n-----.”
But when Daragjati called his fabrication of criminal charges against the victim a mere “bad judgment call,” Brooklyn Federal Judge William Kuntz decided he had heard enough. “Today is also your earthly judgment day,” Kuntz boomed Friday in a courtroom packed with Daragjati’s family and supporters.
Daragjati has a history of racism: Previously Daragjati had been the subject of three civil rights lawsuits and a CCRB complaint, in which a black man alleged the cop told him to “shut your n----- mouth.”
Daragjati will serve 48 months for the extortion and nine months after that for the civil rights violation. Kuntz declined to recommend to the U.S. Bureau of Prisons that Daragjati be sent to a facility within 100 miles of his home in Staten Island.
The judge — who is black and a longtime member of the Civilian Complaint Review Board before he was appointed to the bench last year — took serious issue with Daragjati’s tortured assertions that using the N-word was not racist, but rather a term of derision for people who disrespect the law.
“My goodness sir, you just made the worst possible argument a policeman could make,” Kuntz said.
Kuntz cited the film “Training Day,” in which actor Denzel Washington casually calls his white partner played by Ethan Hawk “my n-----,” as an example of a sick culture that threatens the rule of law.
Kuntz also threw Daragjati’s claims of heroism back in his face.
“You knew how to act as a real police officer,” Kuntz said. “You embraced the anti-cop way, the criminal way.”
Daragjati pleaded guilty to violating the civil rights of Kenrick Gray by fabricating resisting arrest charges because Gray had mouthed off about a rough treatment during a stop-and-frisk last year.
During Friday’s hearing, Daragjati attempted to curry favor by claiming that his time in jail so far has been a learning experience. “People don’t like the cops,” he said. “This stop and frisk nonsense goes on. ...I just spent eight months in prison with 120 males and I’ve heard their stories. These people should hate me and rightfully so. I’ve opened my eyes to things I’ve never seen before.”
Daragjati also apologized to Gray, who was sitting in the courtroom. But he expressed no remorse toward the other man, who he beat over snow plow theft accusations in the vigilante attack.
Defense lawyer Ronald Fischetti said eight cops wrote letters to the judge on behalf of Daragjati and now may face discipline from the Internal Affairs Bureau.