A teen testified Thursday that when he was 11 years old, a police officer tackled him, cuffed his wrists and arrested him as he ran away from a chaotic skirmish on a street, even though he hadn’t broken the law.
At a disciplinary hearing at NYPD headquarters, the boy said he pleaded with the officer not to take him into custody that night in the Bronx in 2019.
“I’m just a kid,” the youth, now 16, recalled yelling.
Lt. Francy Monestime, the officer who arrested him, now faces disciplinary charges. The city’s police watchdog agency, the Civilian Complaint Review Board, investigated the incident and found he used excessive force, unlawfully stopped and arrested the boy, and lied to investigators.
An attorney for the watchdog group is presenting evidence to an administrative judge to prove Monestime acted improperly. NYPD Commissioner Edward Caban will ultimately decide whether Monestime should face discipline. A department spokesperson declined to comment on the case, other than to say the disciplinary process remains ongoing.
The lieutenant’s attorney, Marissa Gillespie, said her client was acting “in good faith” as he responded to an escalating situation where he believed someone had a gun. She also denied Monestime made false statements or tried to conceal what had happened.
“He told everybody that would listen what happened that day,” Gillespie said, adding Monestime wrote a four-page memo, filled out a stop report and other paperwork, consulted with the NYPD’s legal department and described what happened to the CCRB.
Monestime did not testify Thursday but is expected to speak at a future hearing.
On July 28, 2019, the 11-year-old and a couple of his friends were playing basketball on a fenced-in court in the Bronx when he heard a commotion and went to the sidewalk to see what was happening, he testified during the hearing. He said a group outside the court was yelling at police officers and throwing bottles at them.
The boy said he heard the officers…
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