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NYPD Cops Disciplined For Dustup With Councilman Jumaane Williams at Parade

By DNAinfo Staff on November 10, 2011 6:48pm

Jumaane Williams and Kirsten John Foy spoke about a police investigation into their being detained in the summer during the West Indian Day Parade on Nov. 10, 2011.
Jumaane Williams and Kirsten John Foy spoke about a police investigation into their being detained in the summer during the West Indian Day Parade on Nov. 10, 2011.
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DNAInfo/Ben Fractenberg

By Ben Fractenberg and Tom Liddy

DNAinfo Staff

MANHATTAN — Three cops who were involved in the arrest of City Councilman Jumaane Williams and an aide to Public Advocate Bill de Blasio during September's West Indian Day parade were disciplined by the NYPD, officials said.

But Williams and the aide, Kirsten John Foy, say that that the NYPD's action was not sufficient to compensate for the Sept. 5 incident in Brooklyn, which they say was racially charged.

"I am pleased that discipline will be meted out as a result of this incident, particularly that a supervising officer was held accountable," Williams said in a statement. "This needs to be a teachable moment for the NYPD as to its unjust encounters with the hundreds of thousands of black and Latino New Yorkers that are subject to a discriminatory police culture every day."

According to a Nov. 2 letter to Williams, the Internal Affairs Bureau found that there was enough evidence to "partially substantiate" Williams' complaint

"As such the Department has taken the disciplinary action deemed appropriate," read the note, signed by Chief Charles Campisi.

The department did not detail the disciplinary action, but the NYCLU, which advocated on behalf of Williams and Foy, said that the officer who forced Foy to the ground was found guilty of using excessive force.

As a result, he received "Command Discipline B," which "involves the loss of up to 10 vacation days and a permanent entry in his personnel file."

The officer's supervisor also received a "Command Discipline B" for failing to provide adequate supervision, and will forfeit fewer vacation days than his subordinate, according to the NYCLU.

The civil liberties union added that a third officer involved received verbal lecture for not informing the other officers he allowed Williams and Foy through the barricade.

A fourth officer, who Williams said started to push him at the beginning of the incident, reportedly was not given any disciplinary action because there was not enough evidence to back up the councilman's claims about the altercation.

"I am a council member of the City of New York and apparently my word doesn't mean what I think it should mean. And an officer's word trumps everybody else's," said Williams. "If my words meant nothing, I pray for the people who are not even elected officials in the city, which is who this happens to on a regular, regular, regular basis."

The police did not return a request for comment.