He’s out at home
Police choked me outside my house: lawsuit
COPS ASSAULTED and used a banned chokehold on a former Marine after accusing him of burglarizing and trespassing — at his own Brooklyn home, according to a new lawsuit.
Rodric Small, 29, was outside his three-family Prospect-Lefferts Gardens house last Dec. 14, inspecting the vacant first-floor apartment to make sure an actual intruder wasn’t there, when officers spotted him and mistakenly believed he didn’t belong, the Brooklyn Supreme Court suit said.
“I was doing my usual tour of the house for the night, to make sure my family is safe,” said Small, whose family has lived at the Winthrop St. home for 15 years.
“I had my flashlight and saw a light at the front, the person said he was a cop and waved for me to come to the front door,” Small told the Daily News.
Small was questioned by the cop and told him that he lived on the second-floor, but didn’t have his driver’s license on him.
The officer started talking into his shoulder radio and put his hand on his gun holster, Small alleged.
“I couldn’t understand why his hand was on his gun, we were having a casual conversation about the change of the neighborhood,” he said.
Small went to the porch to call for his mother’s or father’s attention and asked the officer if he could go upstairs to grab his ID.
The officer agreed, but as Small tried to close the door, the officer put his foot in the threshold preventing it from closing, according to the suit, which was filed Wednesday.
“He said he couldn’t allow me to close the door because he wanted to do an investigation without a warrant,” Small said.
They argued about the grounds for a search when the officer grabbed Small — who served three years in the Marines before getting discharged — and pinned him against the wall of the cramped vestibule.
Two more cops showed up and Small was “viciously punched” and a “chokehold was employed,” according to the lawsuit.
“My father was at the stairs begging them not to choke me and my mother was screaming ‘What are you doing to my son?’” he said.
Small’s parents continued to plead with the officers that their son lived there and wasn’t trespassing.
“They were forcing me into the unmarked car and I still didn’t know why I was arrested. I kept asking and the sergeant said I’ll know when I get to the precinct,” Small said.
Small was charged with resisting arrest, trespassing, burglary and obstruction of government administration.
“The police officers here illegally entered Mr. Small’s home and arrested him for no lawful reason. We seek to hold these officers accountable so as to prevent such unlawful uses of force and arrest,” said Small’s lawyer, Aymen Aboushi.
At the arraignment, prosecutors offered him a plea deal that he quickly turned down.
At the next court appearance, Aboushi presented evidence that Small actually lived at the building, including his driver’s license.
The judge immediately asked prosecutors to drop the charges after seeing that his identification matched the location of the alleged trespassing, Aboushi said.
“The judge apologized to me for what happened,” Small said.
Small is seeking an unspecified amount for excessive force, false arrest and other charges.
An NYPD spokesperson declined comment.
A city Law Department spokeswoman said, “We will review the suit upon receipt.”