Quantcast

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

Officers Yelled Anti-Gay Slurs at Man During Violent Arrest, Lawsuit Claims

By Nicholas Rizzi | August 30, 2016 3:45pm
 James Rolkiewicz sued the city for $6 million after NYPD officers beat him and called him a
James Rolkiewicz sued the city for $6 million after NYPD officers beat him and called him a "f---ing f--got" during an arrest, a lawsuit claims.
View Full Caption
Stock

STATEN ISLAND — Police beat a gay man and called him a "f---ing f--got" as he suffered an asthma attack during an arrest, a lawsuit claims.

James Rolkiewicz, 53, of Staten Island sued for $6 million in Manhattan Federal Court against the city after he was assaulted during an arrest in the West Village, the New York Daily News first reported.

"A gay man can't walk down the street in the Village and he has to be assaulted by the cops," Rolkiewicz told DNAinfo New York. "This is 2016, I can get married now. I expected something like this to happen 30 years ago."

On Sept. 1, 2015, Rolkiewicz was walking on Barrow Street, near Hudson Street, at about 8:30 p.m. and stopped in front of the Greenwich House Music School because he was having an asthma attack, according to the suit.

While he was trying to find his inhaler in his bag, two officers approached him. One called him a "f---ing f--got" and demanded his identification, Rolkiewicz said.

When he tried to tell officers he couldn't get them out because of his asthma attack, one handcuffed him then grabbed him and smashed his face and head on the hood of a patrol car.

"[Rolkiewicz] was brutally handled, punched, kicked, abusively treated, placed in a chokehold, handcuffed and choked until he lost consciousness," the lawsuit reads.

"[He] was dragged to the back of the patrol car while still unconscious, thrown to the ground, repeatedly punched on his spine, had an assault and battery committed upon him, and put in imminent fear of life or limb."

Rolkiewicz, who has a previous spinal injury, eventually passed out during the attack and when he came to was in the precinct being check by an EMT worker.

"They didn't even call an ambulance for him at the scene," his lawyer, Pamela S. Roth, said. "He was walking by himself, he wasn’t doing anything wrong."

The suit claims Rolkiewicz was never given a reason for his arrest or read his Miranda rights. 

The handcuffs were put on so tight he got nerve damage and lost part of his grip, Roth said.

He was held by police for two days and was told by his court-appointed lawyer to plea to a disorderly conduct charge or face assaulting an officer charges.

Rolkiewicz — who was previously convicted of manslaughter in New Jersey while trying to stop his father from beating his mother — did plead and was sentenced to time served, he said.

"We are reviewing the complaint," a spokesman for the city's Law Department said.

Rolkiewicz, who volunteers with several HIV/AIDS organizations, hasn't been back to the Village since the attack.

"I won't go anywhere near the Village or in the Village at all," he said.