'BEAT' COP IN COURT
NYPD teen-arrest ‘pummel & lie’ raps
An NYPD cop was charged Wednesday for allegedly beating up a handcuffed homeless teen in Chelsea and then lying about the attack in paperwork and to his supervisors, officials said.
Officer Elijah Saladeen, 48, was walked in to his arraignment (left) in Manhattan Supreme Court without cuffs — a rare courtesy — and pleaded not guilty to seven counts of misdemeanor assault, offering a false instrument and other raps.
Prosecutors said that after responding to a report of a trespasser, Saladeen encountered the victim asleep in the stairwell of a New York City Housing Authority building on West 17 Street.
Saladeen roused the 19-year-old and handcuffed him, but on the way down in the elevator the two got into a tussle that spilled into the lobby, according to Assistant District Attorney Philip Gary.
“The defendant got on top of the handcuffed complainant, who was now lying on his stomach, and the defendant repeatedly punched the complainant about the head and the face,” Gary said of the incident on Feb. 24, 2017.
While waiting for an ambulance, Saladeen allegedly dragged the still-handcuffed victim to the rear of the lobby and allegedly punched him in the ribs and side, court papers allege.
Prosecutors said the beatdown was caught on surveillance video.
The pummeling left the victim with a purple face and a laceration under his left eye that required four stitches, court records show.
“This defendant is charged with flagrantly abusing his position as an officer of the law when he beat and dragged a young man and then lied about the attack to his superiors, to prosecutors and in official charging documents,” said DA Cyrus Vance Jr. in a statement.
Saladeen (left, in court Wednesday) allegedly lied about how the victim got his injuries in a police report and sworn criminal complaint, authorities said.
The 19-year veteran allegedly denied striking the teen and insisted the injuries were self-inflicted or the result of an accident, court papers charge.
Although Gary conceded that Saladeen is eligible for a possible probation-only sentence and has no record, he argued that the seriousness of the charges justified $25,000 bail.
Defense lawyer Rae Downes Koshetz countered that Saladeen, who is on modified duty, has been cooperative during the 16-month investigation and deserved to be released without bail.
“We believe when the all the facts are known the situation will be revealed to be different,” the attorney said.
But Justice Gregory Carro ordered Saladeen held on $50,000 bond — double the amount prosecutors requested — and told him to surrender his passport. Saladeen faces as much as four years in prison if convicted of the top count against him.