COP’S ACCuSER IS KILLED
Suit said Finest terrorized Bx. project
A BRONX man who was one of more than a dozen people to sue an NYPD detective accused of terrorizing residents in the 42nd Precinct was fatally shot Tuesday, sources said.
Julio Velasquez, 24, was found with a gunshot wound to his chest at 9:04 p.m. on the eighth floor of a McKinley Houses building, police sources said. He died at Lincoln Medical Center.
Just a month earlier, Velasquez had sued Detective David Terrell, accusing the cop of intimidating a witness into falsely fingering him for a Jan. 31, 2014, shooting death. Velasquez was arrested two weeks later and charged with murder and attempted murder. His suit says he spent 29 months in jail before the case was tossed when a witness recanted.
“He sat on Rikers Island for three years, then the charges were dropped,” said Velasquez’s brother, who declined to give his name during an interview Wednesday. “It was a false arrest, everything.”
The Daily News wrote last week that lawyer John Scola is representing Velasquez and 21 other people who have sued or plan to sue Terrell, his colleague, Detective Daniel Brady, or their precinct. So far, Scola has filed 10 lawsuits and two notices of claim — the first step in suing the city.
“We are very sad that he was shot and killed. Our thoughts and prayers go out to his family,” Scola told The News.
One of Scola’s clients is Pedro Hernandez, a Bronx teen who has become a cause célèbre for bail reform after he spent a year on Rikers Island on a gun charge connected to a 2015 shooting. Hernandez — who was released from jail last month after the Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights group covered his $100,000 bail — is suing Terrell over a false arrest in a different shooting.
Detectives assigned to the 42nd Precinct are now investigating Velasquez’s death and have interviewed three men in the case. Investigators believe Velasquez was a Bloods member, according to sources.
Video from a surveillance camera shows that, before the Tuesday night shooting, two of the men rode an elevator in the McKinley
In the video, Velasquez points his finger and exchanges words with the pair as they exit the elevator, according to police sources. Investigators believe one of the two men shot Velasquez a short time later.
Velasquez’s brother didn’t take any comfort in the 42nd Precinct’s investigation.
“I feel like they’re more into harassing than protecting,” the brother said of the precinct. “The 4-2, they don’t care.”
Velasquez’s lawsuit says he was wrongfully accused of being one of two gunmen in the fatal shooting of Darin Capehart in a Morrisania building. Another man, Ramon Padilla, was also shot but survived.
The lawsuit accuses Terrell and Brady of pressuring Padilla into identifying Velasquez and another man, Salim Wilson, as the shooters.
Besides Scola’s cases, Terrell has been sued seven other times claiming false arrests. Last week, the detective filed his own notice of claim against the city, accusing the NYPD of not sticking up for officers against bogus lawsuits. building with Velasquez.