Quantcast

The DNAinfo archives brought to you by WNYC.
Read the press release here.

Detectives Indicted for Beating Up Uniformed Postal Worker: Queens DA

By Trevor Kapp | April 20, 2016 1:54pm
 Two NYPD detectives have been indicted for roughing up a uniformed postal worker in Queens last year, prosecutors said Wednesday.
Two NYPD detectives have been indicted for roughing up a uniformed postal worker in Queens last year, prosecutors said Wednesday.
View Full Caption
Handout

QUEENS — Two NYPD detectives were indicted for roughing up a uniformed postal worker inside his personal car, then dragging him onto a Corona sidewalk, prosecutors said Wednesday.

Angelo Pampena, 31, and Robert Carbone, 29, allegedly approached Karim Baker, 26, as he sat in his car on 96th Street near Christie Avenue after his shift last October, then punched and kicked him several times. They then dragged him onto sidewalk, seriously injuring him, the Queens District Attorney's Office said.

Prosecutors said Pampena then lied about the incident, filing a sworn complaint that Baker was parked in front of a fire hydrant, though video evidence showed that he was parked more than 15 feet away.

Baker and his lawyer, Eric Subin, insist that the postal worker was beaten up because he inadvertently gave directions to Ismaaiyl Brinsley before he assassinated two NYPD officers in December 2014.

The detectives, who were assigned to the Queens North Gang Unit, were released without bail at their arraignment Wednesday morning, the DA's Office said.

Pampena was charged with assault, perjury, offering a false instrument for filing and official misconduct. Carbone was charged with assault. They face up to seven years in prison if convicted, prosecutors said.

The indictment comes on the heels of a Crown Heights incident in which four plain-clothes officers arrested another uniformed postal worker, Glenn Grays, after nearly sideswiping him with their car.

That incident was captured on video, and the officers involved have since been disciplined.

Pampena and Carbone are due back in court June 27.

Their lawyers could not immediately be reached for comment.