Murderous cop grudge
He sues for $15M in bad slay bust
A BRONX NATIVE spent 21/2 years behind bars for a bogus murder charge brought by an NYPD detective harboring a grudge against him, according to a new lawsuit.
Brian Rodriguez alleges Detective Christopher Cvitkovic busted him for a fatal 2012 Queens robbery he didn’t commit because the cop’s previous case against him fell apart at trial in humiliating fashion, according to the $15 million Brooklyn Federal Court lawsuit.
Rodriguez and Cvitkovic first crossed paths in 2011 when Rodriguez was arrested for robbery. But on the first day of the trial, the two key witnesses in the case said Rodriguez was not the assailant, resulting in the immediate dismissal of the case.
“The last 4½ years have been a hectic roller coaster . . . it was a nightmare,” Rodriguez, 37, told the Daily News.
Less than a month after the Sept. 27, 2012, dismissal, Rodriguez was fingered as the brutal assailant who killed Hai Yan Yang during a mugging in Flushing.
Yang, 37, died after getting slugged with what one official described as a “Mike Tyson punch” and having her head slammed on the pavement.
Cvitkovic then ID’d Rodriguez from a surveillance video out of spite, the suit claims. The video shows a tall, skinny white male with stubble. Rodriguez is Hispanic, 5-feet-7, weighs 175 pounds and had a full beard.
There’s a “distinct possibility of a vendetta against (Rodriguez),” wrote his lawyer Jon Norinsberg, who filed the suit on Friday.
Rodriguez said, “I learned about (Cvitkovic’s) involvement at arraignment, he didn’t question me at the precinct.” ez.“To see that video and see that it wasn’t me, enraged me,” said Rodrigu
“I saw that and said, ‘Yes, the jury will clear me and see that this was a guessing game by the NYPD.’ Arresting me was convenient for them.”
There was no physical or DNA evidence linking Rodriguez to the crime, just the “100%” certainty of the 20-year NYPD veteran, the suit says.
A Queens Supreme Court jury found Rodriguez not guilty on all counts in May after a day-and-a-half of deliberations.
“I was overcome with emotion, I cried because I was cleared. I wasn’t even in the borough at the time and I was facing life in prison,” said Rodriguez.
Rodriguez — who has two prior convictions for robberies — is seeking $10 million in compensatory and $5 million in punitive damages for deprivation of his federal civil rights, false arrest, malicious prosecution and other charges.
“We will sort out the facts in court and not comment further given the pending litigation,” said Nick Paolucci, a city Law Department spokesman.
With Stephen Rex Brown
I wasn’t even in the borough at the time and I was facing life in prison
BRIAN RODRIGUEZ