Schoolcraft v. The City Of New York et al

Filing 298

DECLARATION of Suzanna P. Mettham in Support re: 297 MOTION for Summary Judgment .. Document filed by Christopher Broschart(Tax Id. 915354 in his official capacity), Christopher Broschart(Tax Id. 915354 Individually), Timothy Caughey(Tax Id. 885374 Individually), Timothy Caughey(Tax Id. 885374 in his official capacity), Kurt Duncan(Shield No. 2483, Individually), Kurt Duncan(Shield No. 2483 in his official capacity), William Gough(Tax Id. 919124, Individually), William Gough(Tax Id. 919124, in his Official Capacity), Thomas Hanley(Tax Id. 879761, in his Official Capacity), Thomas Hanley(Tax Id. 879761, Individually), Elise Hanlon(in her official capacity as a lieutenant with the New York City Fire Department), Elise Hanlon(individually), Shantel James(Shield No. 3004 in his official capacity), Shantel James(Shield No. 3004 Individually), Theodore Lauterborn(Tax Id. 897840 in his official capacity), Theodore Lauterborn(Tax Id. 897840, Individually), Michael Marino, Michael Marino, Gerald Nelson(Assistant Chief Patrol Borough Brooklyn North, Tax Id. 912370 in his official capacity), Gerald Nelson(Assistant Chief Patrol Borough Brooklyn North, Tax Id. 912370, Individually), Robert W. O'Hare(Tax Id. 916960, Individually), Robert W. O'Hare(Tax Id. 916960, in his Official Capacity), Frederick Sawyer(Shield No. 2576 in his official capacity), Frederick Sawyer(Shield No. 2576, Individually), The City Of New York, Timothy Trainer(Tax Id. 899922, in his Official Capacity), Timothy Trainer(Tax Id. 899922, Individually), Richard Wall, Sondra Wilson(Shield No. 5172, in her Official Capacity), Sondra Wilson(Shield No. 5172, Individually). (Attachments: # 1 Exhibit A, # 2 Exhibit B, # 3 Exhibit C, # 4 Exhibit D, # 5 Exhibit E, # 6 Exhibit F, # 7 Exhibit G, # 8 Exhibit H, # 9 Exhibit I, # 10 Exhibit J, # 11 Exhibit K, # 12 Exhibit L, # 13 Exhibit M, # 14 Exhibit N, # 15 Exhibit O, # 16 Exhibit P, # 17 Exhibit Q, # 18 Exhibit R, # 19 Exhibit S, # 20 Exhibit T, # 21 Exhibit U, # 22 Exhibit V, # 23 Exhibit W, # 24 Exhibit X, # 25 Exhibit Y, # 26 Exhibit Z, # 27 Exhibit AA, # 28 Exhibit BB, # 29 Exhibit CC, # 30 Exhibit DD, # 31 Exhibit EE, # 32 Exhibit FF, # 33 Exhibit GG, # 34 Exhibit HH, # 35 Exhibit II, # 36 Exhibit JJ, # 37 Exhibit KK, # 38 Exhibit LL, # 39 Exhibit MM, # 40 Exhibit NN, # 41 Exhibit OO, # 42 Exhibit PP, # 43 Exhibit QQ, # 44 Exhibit RR)(Shaffer, Ryan)

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UNTTED STATES DTSTRICT COURT
SOUTHERN DTSTRTCT OF NEW YORK
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DAVID FLOYD, LALIT CI.,ARKSON, DEON DENNIS,
and DAVID OURLICHT, indivídua1ly and on

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behalf of a class of all other similarly
s i tuated,
Index No
Plaintiffs,
0B CIV 0l-034
-against-

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THE CTTY OF NEW YORK, NEW YORK CTTY POLTCE

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COMMISSIONER RAYMOND
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individual

KELI,Y, iN hiS

capacity, et â1,

and official

Defendants.

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March 29, 20ao
1l-:00 a.m.

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Of ADHYL POLANCO, LAKCN
at the law of f ices of
by the
Covingt,on & Burling LLP, The New York Times
Building, 620 Eight,h Avenue, New York, New York,
LOOl-8-l-405, bef ore Eleanor Greenhouse a Shorthand
Report,er and NoLary Public by and for the SLate
of New York.
DEPOSTTION
Plaint,if f s, held

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GREENHOUSE REPORTING, TNC.
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5 S ixt,h Avenue - Sui t,e 1-7 16
New York, New York l- 0 0 0 L
(2r2) Zt9-sl-08
(212)27e-sr08

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A P P E A R A N C E S:

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CENTER FOR CONSTTTUTTONAL RTGHTS

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Attorneys f or the Plaint.i f f s
666 BroadwaY
New York, New York 10012

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BY:

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DARTUS CHARNEY, ESQ.

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NEW YORK CTTY LAW ÐEPARTMENT

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OFFTCE OF CORPORATION COUNSEL

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At,t,orneys for the Cit,y of New York
L00 Church StreeL

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New York, New York L0007

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BY:

JOHN ROHACK, ESQ.

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DAVID HAZAN,

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LTNDA DONOHUE, ESQ.

ESQ.

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LAURÏANO GUZMAN

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Attorney for the Witness
2565 Frisby Avenue
Bronx, New York L046L

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(2t2)279-s108

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A. Polanco
performance monítoring.
I wanL to t.aIk about that, situat,lon
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laLer, but ot,her Lhan this currenL situat,ion
whích you're speaking of, have You ever been
mist,reated in other situations by any supervisors
or co-workers in t,he NYPD because of your race or
ethnicity?
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No.

Have you ever been mist,reated by any

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supervi sors or co-workers for any oLher reason
since you've been a member of t,he PolÍce

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Depart,menL

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YeS.

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What, are the oLher situations

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you've been

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where

t,reated?

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I reported corrupLion.
When was that?
Back in Oct,ober.
October of 2009?

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2009.

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What kind of corrupLion?

Fírst of

who did you report, it. to?

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all,

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to Tnternal Affairs
because I grew up in Washingt,on Heights. T' know

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A.

ï reported it

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A. Polanco
r was
what, it's like to sit in the park or
seeing an awful lot, of people, kids, 9€Lting
arrested for no oLher reason t.han being a number

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for CompStat.

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So you reported this situat,ion of
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kids being arrested for no reason/ you reported
it, to Int,ernal Af f airs in oct,ober of ' 09.
A.
Yes, I did.
You said you were mistreated because
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What kind of mistreatment or adverse
of it.
employment act,ion was t,aken because of t.haL,
reporting that, to the IAB?
A.
IL's going Lo be a long answer.
Let me see if I can shorten it.
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OLher than the stuf f you jusL t,alked abouL, Lhe
suspension and t.he psychologíca1 hold and t,he
modif ied duty, are there ot,her f orms of
mistreatmenL that, you suffered as a result of
reporting t,his situaLion t,o t,he IAB?
f was seen as the enemy after that,
A.
I became
a Police Department enemy. They hurt
a cop because I believed in helping people, I
believe in doing the right. thing for people, not
throwing cuffs on them for no reason. So they
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A. Polanco
schizophrenic. The
The guy viras ment.ally
lieut.enanL had already set up a checkpoint. for us
to g€t, but I was at t.he missíng so I couldntt,
Ieave. He wanted me to leave but I couldn'L
because I was a patrol officer assigned to that.
And by the time I fínished with t.he missing a
couple of hours l-ater, and I locat,ed him in the
hospit,al, and the person was admitt,ed, the
no longer could have done
l ieut.enanL couldn t t
the checkpoint, that, d"y, so the nexL day, the
minute my parLner and I walked out of roll- call,
they tol-d us rrYourre going Lo a checkpoint, today
because the prior day you dídn I t .
Earlier you said t,hat it, took you a
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lot of courage to finally speak up to IAB about
this issue. What were you afraid or what are you
afraid would happen to you as a result. of
speaking t,o IAB?
A.
It did happen. I was retaliated
against, and basically, they were wait.ing f or a
perf ect chance to do ftr€ , how we cal l j-L , Lo geL
rid of me or get me in trouble.
In my situation, we were patrolling
a checkpoint, my partner and I, with two other
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A. Polanco

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officers.

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When was t,hi s ?
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This was December 12, 2009. MY
partner started gett,ing chest, pains in the middle
of t,he checkpoint. Ambulance was ca1led.
Everybody came in. I mean, Lhe ambulance with my
parLner, t,he person I have been working since the
46, almost five years. I was ordered by
Lieut,enant Valanzano noL to go with my parLner,
to st,ep out, of t,he ambulance, and when I stepped
out of the ambulance, Len minutes laLer, my
parLner started t,urning blue with an oxygen mask
on. I told t,he lieutenanL that Irm going with my
partner. At, that. t,ime, he suspended me on the

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spot.

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ret,aliation

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And you believed t,hat, Lhis was ín

for you going to IAB about the

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, absolut,ely.
Why do you believe that it was in
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retal iat ion?
A.
Because Sergeant Rodriguez told
that day that they were looking to get me in
trouble, t,hey were looking Lo, and also it ' s

me

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