From [HERE] and [HERE] A white city police sergeant was suspended for 15 days for using excessive force during a June arrest outside a city nightclub against an unarmed, handcuffed Black man, who was under control and not resisting arrest. He was not disciplined, however, for later seizing the phone of a woman who taped the encounter. So concludes an internal affairs investigation into the actions of Sgt. Chris Rubino in the early hours of June 2. This is his 6th suspension for misconduct. 

Video and still photos taken by citizens showed Rubino putting his boot on the back of the neck of a 24-year-old Bridgeport man during an arrest. “The tactics of a foot on a neck are improper and unacceptable by any police officer let alone a police supervisor,” Esserman said Thursday.

The seizure of the phone as evidence, he said, didn’t appear to violate any law and the incident showed that the department’s internal policy about citizens’ rights to film police is too vague and needs to be rewritten. (Evidence of what, police trying to kill this Black man? Deputy Dog here seems to have just overlooked the 4th Amendment prohibition against unreasonable searches and seizures. No exigent circumstances here, except he is not white - bw).

As police struggled with the suspect in this case, Jennifer Gondola was recording police on her iPhone. When the suspect was in custody, Rubino approached Gondola and asked her if she recorded the incident. She said she had and he asked to review the footage. When he saw it, he said needed the recording to support the police version of events. She balked and put her phone down her bra. Rubino then arrested her and had a female officer retrieve the phone, which he entered into evidence. Ultimately, that video was used to conclude Rubino had used excessive force. 

The internal affairs report stated, “Sgt. Rubino stated he placed his foot on the back of Rawlings’ neck to pin him to the ground. Rawlings was handcuffed and face down on the ground at that time. Rawlings was not actively resisting,” echoing a conclusion Jennifer Gondola made to investigators and in a subsequent Independent interview. “The position of Sgt. Rubino’s foot on the subject’s neck was consistent with that of the use of deadly force.”