By Shayna Jacobs
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
MANHATTAN SUPREME COURT — A US Army veteran who was scheduled to testify against a police officer accused of beating him with a baton while he was handcuffed has gone missing.
"Where he is is simply unknown," Assistant District Attorney David Drucker said Wednesday, referring to alleged victim Walter Harvin, 29.
Harvin is supposed to testify against officer David London, 44, a former 15-year NYPD veteran. Without the key witness in the case, jury selection proceeded on Wednesday.
Prosecutors said they had spoken to Harvin's family, called his out-of-service cell phone, sent e-mails and contacted an attorney who had represented him, all to no avail, Drucker said.
Although London asserted that Harvin had been resisting arrest on July 18, 2008, prosecutors said surveillance video shows the officer attacking Harvin, who they argued did not appear to pose a physical danger.
The encounter reportedly started when Harvin allegedly shoved London at an Upper West Side housing project at West 93rd Street and Amsterdam, the New York Post reported. London then grabbed Harvin and allegedly hit him 20 times with his baton.
London's attorney, Steven Worth, said Harvin was facing was an unrelated resisting arrest charge in Denver, CO, that occurred some time after the incident with London.
Worth said he doubted that police would have much trouble locating the witness.
