OCEAN BEACH BEAT COPS APPROACHING ONE YEAR SINCE INDICTMENT AND ARREST

We thought it would be appropriate to reprint the Suffolk County District Attorney's Press Release from about a year ago:

http://www.co.suffolk.ny.us/da/press/2007/3_27_07.html

March 27, 2007

Ocean Beach Chief and three cops arraigned on 18-count indictment

Suffolk County District Attorney Thomas Spota today announced the arrest, indictment and arraignment of four Ocean Beach village police officers, including the acting Chief of Police, on charges related to the stationhouse beating of a New York City man in August of 2005.

The acting Chief of Police, George Hesse, 38, faces the most serious charges in the indictment; one count of first-degree assault and one count of first-degree gang assault, each charge a "B" violent felony punishable by a maximum sentence of up to 25 years in prison.

"The indictment alleges Mr. Hesse with beating the victim, Samuel Gilberd, and causing serious physical injury," DA Spota said. "The charges of offering a false instrument, hindering prosecution, issuing a false certificate, falsifying business records, and conspiracy, are for the scheme Hesse and police officers Carollo, and Hardman implemented to change, or in some instances create an official record of the August 28, 2005 beating of Mr. Gilberd," the district attorney explained.

The indictment charges Hesse severely beat Samuel Gilberd, 32, when Gilberd was in the stationhouse around 3:30 am on the morning of August 28, 2005. Gilberd had been questioned by police about throwing a beer glass from a local bar into the street. As he was walking out of the station with a summons for littering, the victim, who has admitted he was intoxicated at the time, kicked the door of the police station.
"It was at the point," DA Spota said, "that Mr. Gilberd was forcefully taken to a room by police and beaten. Sergeant Hesse stomped on Gilberd's mid-section as the victim laid unconscious on the stationhouse floor, a forceful blow that caused a three centimeter tear that ruptured Mr. Gilberd's bladder," Spota explained.

Gilberd sustained cuts and bruises during the brutal beating but the bladder, leaking urine into his body cavity, was the injury that put his life in danger. The victim was hospitalized for ten days after emergency surgery at St Vincent's hospital.
A week after the beating, police filed disorderly conduct and resisting arrest charges against Gilberd. The district attorney's office dropped the charges October 4, 2006.

District Attorney Spota said the department has attempted "to stonewall our investigation from the outset", and that police officers lied to DA detectives during the probe. The investigation centers on alleged criminal conduct going back as far as the mid 1990's, the district attorney said, adding that "today's arraignments are the culmination of the first phase of the investigation". The district said investigators in the government corruption bureau recently received 1,200 pages of records subpoenaed from Ocean Beach Village and police department files.
When asked to describe the situation in recent years in Ocean Beach, the district attorney, citing the village's history of settling lawsuits filed against members of its police department "quietly and confidentially", called on the village board to look closely at the reported incidents of police brutality. "Sticking your head in the sand is not a proper response, Spota said.
"Someone on the village board should have said somewhere along the line 'Something is wrong here…let's take a look at it." "The assaults against village visitors were settled out of court, but that doesn't relieve the village government's responsibility to be a watchdog of its police department," Spota said.

Judge Barbara Kahn set cash bail at $100,000 for Hesse, and $10,000 bail or bond for the other three defendants.

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OCEAN BEACH POLICE COVER-UP FAILS

OCEAN BEACH POLICE COVER-UP FAILS; Criminal Charges Dropped Against Man Assaulted by Ocean Beach PD

Ocean Beach Police Abuse Website
Newsday Article

All criminal charges were dropped October 4, 2006 by the Suffolk County District Attorney’s office against Samuel Gilberd, the man who was assaulted last year by the Ocean Beach Police Department, according to the attorney handling his criminal matter, Robert Gottlieb.

Gottlieb said the dismissal was proof that police "trumped up" the charges to justify their assault. "The Suffolk DA is not in the habit of dropping charges unless they think the facts warrant it," Gottlieb said. "So their decision speaks much louder than anything I can say."

Mr. Gilberd was on vacation in Ocean Bay Park on Fire Island, and in the early morning hours of August 28, 2005 he was brought to the police station to receive a summons for littering. As he was leaving the police station, Mr. Gilberd closed the station house door in a way that apparently annoyed the police officers.

According to his attorneys, one of the police officers pursued Mr. Gilberd outside and told him "now you've really made the sergeant mad." Gilberd was dragged back into the station house by officers, then beaten and kicked into unconsciousness and left lying on the station house floor. Mr. Gilberd's wife found him lying unconscious when she arrived at the station house just minutes later.

The unprovoked attack by police officers was witnessed by others, including an independent witness, who together with Mr. Gilberd's wife frantically insisted that he be brought to a hospital.

After a delay, police officers finally transported Mr. Gilberd to Southside Hospital via police boat. A few hours later he was brought by private ambulance to St. Vincent’s hospital in New York City where he underwent an emergency operation to repair a ruptured bladder and numerous internal injuries. According to his attorneys, Mr. Gilberd remained in the hospital for ten days and continues to suffer residual medical problems as result of his injuries sustained in the attack.

Mr. Gilberd’s civil attorney, D. Carl Lustig, III, will announce that a formal lawsuit would be filed immediately in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York for violation of Mr. Gilberd’s civil rights, assault, and unlawful imprisonment against the village of Ocean Beach, NY, the Ocean Beach Police Department, the police department's Chief of Police Edward Paradiso, and a number of the police officers allegedly involved including Sergeant George Hesse and PO Arnold Hardman.

"When you're being attacked by thugs, who do you run to? You run to the police, of course," Lustig said. "But who do you run to when the police are the thugs?"

According to Mr. Gilberd’s attorneys, seven days after the incident, in an attempt to cover up their criminal assault, police officers filed the criminal charges against Mr. Gilberd, falsely charging him with resisting arrest and disorderly conduct. These are the charges that were dropped by the Suffolk County District Attorney.

Criminal proceeding were on Wednesday October 4th at Supreme Court, Suffolk, County

Don't Go to Ocean Beach Fire Island NY

Over the past few months, Ocean Beach Fire Island NY has been working its PR resources overtime in a huge rebranding effort to draw new visitors in 2006 and reap their vacation dollars.

Glancing at the new Ocean Beach Fire Island NY website, one might be led to believe that the beauty and glory is unrivalled, and that it is a perfect destination for families. In fact the Mayor herself writes a nice letter to visitors expounding the "glorious...and tranquil retreat."

The reality of life in Ocean Beach, however, is not so tranquil. Ocean Beach Fire Island, long named the "land of no", have rules against so many aspects of life, it is against the law to walk in town without a shirt, eat ice cream, or a sandwich!

Considering a nice family picnic on the beach? Think again, because it is a huge fine. Ocean Beach Fire Island NY is certainly not a place for families to vacation.

Why? For one reason, the Ocean Beach Police Department have long held the belief that Ocean Beach, Fire Island was their own kingdom to run as they desired. According to one retired NYC detective, "everyone that has ever visited Ocean Beach knows these half-assed wanna be cops think they are God and above the law."

Frequent fines, police brutality - roughing up people unnecessarily, and illegitimately hauling people to the police station have all been frequent complaints. The amount of money generated by these tickets and fines is a boon to the town including the board of trustees and the mayor, and as a result this aggressive police abuse behavior has been overlooked for years.

This police brutality and use of the shield to generate money by fining innocent people reached new heights last summer when, on August28, 2005 the Ocean Beach Fire Island NY Police Department sergeant and other officers punched and kicked a 150-lb NYC business man into unconsciousness.

The victim, who was not under arrest spent 10 days in the hospital with severe blunt force trauma injuries, including a ruptured bladder. Adding insult to injury, 7 days after the incident, the victim was fined and sent two illegitimate misdemanor violations!

So, when considering a vacation spot for this summer season, you should stay on the mainland. Remember, don't go to Ocean Beach Fire Island NY as it is no place for families!

To read in depth about police brutality in Ocean Beach Fire Island, go to http://www.oceanbeachpoliceabuse.com whose material contributed to this blog.

The Truth about Police Brutality in Ocean Beach

Police brutality is claimed so often it is now mostly regarded as crying wolf. Most people don't believe that it really happens.

The story of alleged Ocean Beach police brutality by cops including the sergeant and other officers that almost killed a NYC businessman should be a wake up call to all those doubters out there. Police Brutality is real, and happens more frequently today than ever before. There are more cops every year, more laws, rules, more restrictions on individual liberty. All of this while crime continues to decrease.

This case is not important only on its own, but reflects the growing danger of a police state so often imagined in sci-fi novels. Individual Liberty is losing ground to equality and a perceived safety that the government will supposedly provide for us.

Should it truly be the government's right to decide that we must wear helmets when we ride motorcycles? Or be able to drink water on Ocean Beach?

Fear sells advertising. Watch the news. We are being constantly bombarded with fear in the media and believe that the government should be responsible and liable for everything. Can an elected person really run on a platform that includes decreasing the size of the police force?

Why should the government decide how I live my life, as long as I don't interfere with the liberties of others? It is now normal in our society, even encouraged, not to take responsibility for our own actions. If I fall down in a supermarket it is their fault, not mine. If I run out of gas and crash my plane it is the manufacturers fault, and if I stick my foot under a lawnmower while its running - they should have told me not to do that. Thanks, Nader - one person who had the single most contribution to one of the biggest industries of all, trial law. Its not my fault. Pay me.
In the great majority of police departments in cities across America, thankfully, police do their civil duties, are good people, and ensure we live by the rule of law with courtesy and respect.

The nightmare scenario of the Ocean Beach Police Brutality case is of a fascist police state dominated by thugs and killers with guns who are trained to shoot first. We as civilians are being forced to live our lives according to the signs, and had better not step out of line. This alleged Ocean Beach Police Department brutality case is about something most of us have forgotten or take for granted. The Ocean Beach Police Department brutality case is about Freedom.

Did the large and allegedly sober police officers including the sergeant and other officers REALLY need to send a 150 pound kid to the hospital for 10 days? If cops are allowed to wear guns then they should be held to higher standards. If he insulted them, can they be allowed to get away with beating him almost to death? Surely he didn't physically threaten them. Just because they have no education is certainly no excuse.

Of course, one probably isn't PROMOTED to that Ocean Beach Police Department post.

The people in charge of overseeing police are voted in. And, depending on the political climate, it may not look good to investigate cops. How often do police get arrested or go to jail?

San Francisco, as an example has debated for decades how to hold bad officers accountable, and time and again, voters have made it clear that they wanted the Police Department and politicians to do just that. Voters established the civilian oversight agency known as the Office of Citizen Complaints. They voted to increase the agency's budget. They voted to make the Police Commission more independent of the mayor.

Despite all these efforts, the city still rarely holds errant police officers accountable for their actions.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgifile=/c/a/2006/02/08/MNUFDISCIPLINE.DTL

Surely in the Louima case they held the officers accountable. The trial also exposed the role of the Policemens Benevolent Association (PBA), which provides a key element of the so-called "Blue Wall of Silence" under which cops systematically lie about incidents of police abuse. The practice is very common; reported by the 1994 Mollen Commission which was formed to investigate a raging scandal over brutality and drug-trafficking by police, and officers themselves talk about "testilying" in court. http://www.wsws.org/articles/2000/mar2000/loui-m09.shtml

If the cops had tried to understand rather than be offensive, blend in rather than be hostile, maybe there would be no 42-shot killing of an unarmed Diallo http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amadou_Diallo_(shooting_victim)


It is hard to conceive of any action by Mr. Gilberd that could have warranted such a severe and intense mauling by the Ocean Beach Police Deparment cops under the supervision of Chief Ed Paradiso and Sergeant George Hesse. How can these types of people be allowed to have weapons?

They make real, honest cops look bad, they need to be punished, and be made to feel the same abject terror and helplessness the victim must have felt.

Ocean Beach Police Department

Attorneys D. Carl Lustig, III and Robert C. Gottlieb held a press conference on Tuesday, September 20, 2005 at 11:00 a.m. to announce the filing of a notice of claim against the village of Ocean Beach, Ocean Beach Police Department, and the police department’s Chief of Police and a number of police officers and to demand that the Suffolk county District Attorney investigate and prosecute the village of Ocean Beach police officers who criminally, brutally and viciously attacked a New York City businessman as he was leaving the village police station.

Samuel Gilberd and his wife, Kana Manglapus, took a four day vacation in Ocean Bay Park in late august. In the morning hours of August 28, 2005 after a night out, Mr. Gilberd was brought to the police station to receive a summons for littering. As he was leaving the police station, Mr. Gilberd closed the station house door in a way that offended the police officers. One of the police officers warned Mr. Gilberd “now you’ve really made the sergeant mad” and together with other police officers they violently, brutally and viciously attacked him. Mr. Gilberd was beaten and kicked into unconsciousness and left lying on the station house floor. This unprovoked attack by police officers was witnessed by others. Mr. Gilberd’s wife observed him lying unconscious when she arrived at the station house.

An independent witness to the assault and Mr. Gilberd’s wife frantically insisted that he be brought to a hospital. After a delay, police officers finally transported Mr. Gilberd to Southside hospital via police boat. A few hours later he was brought by private ambulance to St. Vincent’s hospital in New York City where he underwent an emergency operation to repair a ruptured bladder and numerous internal injuries. Mr. Gilberd remained in the hospital for ten days.
To cover up their criminal assault, police officers filed criminal charges seven days later against Mr. Gilberd falsely charging him with resisting arrest and disorderly conduct.
Mr. Gilberd, his wife together with his attorneys Robert C. Gottlieb and D. Carl Lustig, III were to appear at the press conference to answer questions.

http://www.oceanbeachpoliceabuse.com

The Truth Will Prevail - Ocean Beach Police Brutality

The truth will prevail. There is no quest by the authors of this Blog to demonize police in general - quite the contrary. This Blog is not made of police haters or anarchists.

We believe in the rule of law; without which we would never have the best quality of life that we, as a country, enjoy today. Human beings are imperfect, indeed. Which is why it is so important to first find out whether Mr. Gilberd's accusations are true. If proven in a court of law then we must, as a society and to protect each of us, prosecute to the full extent of the law the persons responsible, whoever they are, most especially if they are public officials.

Even our Founding Fathers were aware of such danger of excess of power:

"As a man is said to have a right to his property, he may be equally said to have a property in his rights. Where an excess of power prevails, property of no sort is duly respected. No man is safe in his opinions, his person, his faculties, or his possessions."- James Madison, National Gazette Essay, March 27, 1792

And other influential thinkers:

From JS Mill in On Liberty written in 1859:

"...the only purpose for which power can be rightfully exercised over any member of a civilized community, against his will, is to prevent harm to others. His own good, either physical or moral, is not a sufficient warrant. He cannot rightfully be compelled to do or forbear because it will be better for him to do so, because it will make him happier, because, in the opinions of others, to do so would be wise, or even right. These are good reasons for remonstrating with him, or reasoning with him, or persuading him, or entreating him, but not for compelling him, or visiting him with any evil, in case he do otherwise."

"And it is no less true, that personal security and private property rest entirely upon the wisdom, the stability, and the integrity of the courts of justice."- Joseph Story, Commentaries on the Constitution, 1833

Press Conference Advisory - Ocean Beach Police Brutality

DATE: Tuesday, September 20, 2005

TIME: 11:00 A.M.
WEBSITE: http://www.oceanbeachpoliceabuse.com/

Attorneys D. Carl Lustig, III and Robert C. Gottlieb held a press conference on Tuesday, September 20, 2005 at 11:00 a.m. to announce the filing of a notice of claim against the village of Ocean Beach, Ocean Beach Police Department, and the police department’s Chief of Police and a number of police officers and to demand that the Suffolk county District Attorney investigate and prosecute the village of Ocean Beach police officers who criminally, brutally and viciously attacked a New York City businessman as he was leaving the village police station.

Samuel Gilberd and his wife, Kana Manglapus, took a four day vacation in Ocean Bay Park in late august. In the morning hours of August 28, 2005 after a night out, Mr. Gilberd was brought to the police station to receive a summons for littering. As he was leaving the police station, Mr. Gilberd closed the station house door in a way that offended the police officers. One of the police officers warned Mr. Gilberd “now you’ve really made the sergeant mad” and together with other police officers they violently, brutally and viciously attacked him. Mr. Gilberd was beaten and kicked into unconsciousness and left lying on the station house floor. This unprovoked attack by police officers was witnessed by others. Mr. Gilberd’s wife observed him lying unconscious when she arrived at the station house.

An independent witness to the assault and Mr. Gilberd’s wife frantically insisted that he be brought to a hospital. After a delay, police officers finally transported Mr. Gilberd to Southside hospital via police boat. A few hours later he was brought by private ambulance to St. Vincent’s hospital in New York City where he underwent an emergency operation to repair a ruptured bladder and numerous internal injuries. Mr. Gilberd remained in the hospital for ten days.
To cover up their criminal assault, police officers filed criminal charges seven days later against Mr. Gilberd falsely charging him with resisting arrest and disorderly conduct.
Mr. Gilberd, his wife together with his attorneys Robert C. Gottlieb and D. Carl Lustig, III were to appear at the press conference to answer questions.

WEBSITE: http://www.oceanbeachpoliceabuse.com/

ANYONE WITH INFORMATION ON OBPD ABUSE PLEASE CONTACT:
D. CARL LUSTIG, III (212)732-4992