New York Daily News – by Barry Paddock , Rocco Parascandola , John Marzulli AND Dareh Gregorian
They’re the NYPD’s most-sued cops, and Peter Valentin’s their king.
Valentin, a hard-charging Bronx narcotics detective whose online handle is “PistolPete,” has been sued a stunning 28 times since 2006 on allegations of running slash-and-burn raids that left dozens of lives in ruins while resulting in few criminal convictions.
The city has paid out $884,000 to settle cases naming the stocky, 36-year-old detective, but he doesn’t seem too concerned.
“I’m not aware of that,” he scoffed at a Daily News reporter when told of his claim to shame. “Once it goes to court, I don’t follow it.”
The Bloomberg administration routinely dismissed the relevance of civil suits against the NYPD, even as the number of claims against the department doubled over the past decade to a record high of 9,570 filed in 2012. The suits cost taxpayers more than $1 billion dollars during that time period.
They “had a ‘see no evil, hear no evil’ attitude,” said former city Controller John Liu, whose repeated calls for analyzing lawsuits were ignored.
A months-long News review of lawsuits against the NYPD over the past decade shows that 55 officers on the 34,000-person department have been sued 10 or more times during that time period, costing taxpayers more than $6 million.
Many on the force are quick to point out lawsuits do not necessarily indicate wrongdoing by an officer.
CRAIG WARGA/NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
While the Bloomberg administration dismissed the relevance of civil suits against the NYPD, the number of claims doubled over the past decade, hitting a record high in 2012. Here, Bloomberg and then-Police Commissioner Ray Kelly in March 2013.
While the “average citizen may find it unsettling, the more active an officer is the higher the likelihood of being involved in some type of litigation. It is neither indicative of wrongdoing nor stereotypical,” said Michael Palladino, president of the Detectives Endowment Association.
He criticized the city for being quick to settle these cases, saying the practice “creates an incentive for plaintiffs and their attorneys to file them in the first place knowing it could be an easy payday.”
Most of the suits allege false arrest, including scores of cases where people had criminal charges against them thrown out, but still ended up with injuries, losing or almost losing their jobs, pets, kids or homes.
“Where there’s smoke, there’s fire, and there’s a lot of fire here,” said lawyer Neil Wollerstein.
But change is coming.
NYPD spokesman Stephen Davis said former top cop Raymond Kelly established a Civil Lawsuit Monitoring Program and a separate Risk Assessment Unit in September — after a series of Daily News investigations showed the NYPD was turning a blind eye to potentially problem officers.
The monitoring program looks at the number of lawsuits filed against an officer, the nature of the lawsuits, and an officer’s specific role in the incident, so they “can differentiate the guy with the battering ram at the door and the guy who’s up the block,” Davis said.
The risk assessment unit looks at patterns and trends in the lawsuits that could warrant further review.
Davis said both programs are in their early stages, and that Police Commissioner Bill Bratton is “taking a hard look” at ways to improve them.
MARIELA LOMBARD FOR NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Michael Palladino, president of the Detectives Endowment Association (center), says a high number of lawsuits against an officer is not ‘indicative of wrongdoing.’
Meanwhile, City Controller Scott Stringer said he’s launching a program called ClaimStat, “a data-driven claims review that will identify patterns and practices across city agencies that lead to claims and work with agencies to find solutions that save taxpayers money.”
“We must find innovative ways to reduce claims citywide and my office is laser-focused on making that a reality,” Stringer said.
The lawsuits reviewed by The News revealed a raft of troubling allegations.
During one early morning raid in May 2011 at an apartment building in the Longwood section of the Bronx, 14 people in five apartments were hauled off to jail, one pooch was wounded by gunfire, and another dog shot dead, records show. Valentin was the arresting officer and signed many of the field tests for the narcotics allegedly obtained during the controlled buys and raid.
Lawyers for the residents called the raids suspect, noting that the warrants were based on 10 controlled buys all from the same confidential informant — who in one day allegedly bought crack and PCP from four separate apartments.
The only criminal charge from the raid that stuck was a guilty plea for possession of a small amount of marijuana.
But the scorched earth approach to sweeping up tenants cost the city $202,500 in settlements.
One nursing mother spent a week on Rikers Island because Valentin claimed white powder seized from her apartment — which she had explained was from crushed egg shells used in a Santeria ritual — had field tested positive as cocaine. “You can touch it and see it’s not crack cocaine,” said the mom, Jemilah el-Shabazz.
She was released after an NYPD lab test came back negative.
MICHAEL SCHWARTZ FOR NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
(From left) Tyrone Shields, Gary Castillo and Marcel Grant are suing Bronx narcotics cops over their false arrests. One of the cops is Peter Valentin, who has been sued 28 times since 2006.
“That was the worst week of my life,” said el-Shabazz, who got a $10,000 settlement for the ordeal. “They had everybody under siege and they didn’t find anything.”
The Ramos family, whose dog was shot and “seriously injured” during the raid, got a $130,000 settlement from the city.
Three of the Ramoses were brought in on charges they had a scale and grinder with marijuana residue on it, and an imitation pistol, which their attorney said was a gun-shaped lighter. All charges were dropped after they spent a night in jail.
An elderly woman who answered the door declined to speak to The News, saying, “They’re all traumatized. They’re seeing a psychiatrist right now.”
The woman whose pit bull was killed did not sue the city. She told The News she was on dialysis, in-and-out of the hospital, and didn’t think she could produce the necessary paperwork proving she was actively caring for the dog.
“The dog’s body was wrapped in a shower curtain in a hallway,” said Rosa Ortiz. “It was terrible. We all loved her. We had her since she was a tiny puppy.”
Valentin denied any wrongdoing in court papers.
Palladino said narcotics cops in particular are on the front lines every day — which also puts them in the line of fire for lawsuits.
The vast majority of the city’s most-sued officers are narcotics cops, but they’re still a small percentage of the more than 1,500 narcotics cops across the five boroughs.
CHRISTIE M. FARRIELLA FOR NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Illuminada Valdivieso says Detective Peter Valentin wrongfully arrested her in front of her daughter, now 13, and humiliated her by referring to her as J.Lo.
The News’ investigation was centered around the results of a Freedom of Information Law request for a list of lawsuits filed against officers who have been sued 10 or more times over the past decade. The city Law Department provided the names of 51 officers and 463 cases. A News search found an additional 146 cases against the officers, and four other officers who should have been included in the response — calling into question the city’s ability to track these cases.
A spokeswoman for the Law Department acknowledged that its database “has not always identified all of the defendants named in a lawsuit, especially if they were added after the initial complaint was filed.” But, she added, the NYPD is notified about every officer who’s sued, and “that information is entered into the officer’s personnel file along with information about IAB and CCRB investigations.”
A source said the information that’s entered into the files is far from complete — it only lists the caption of the lawsuit and doesn’t detail what allegations were made against the officer and what the result of the suit was.
Former Corporation Counsel Michael Cardozo has called the settlements “business decisions” that don’t reflect guilt, but Liu said there didn’t seem to be “any interest in looking at the data to glean lessons.”
The News’ probe last year showed two frequently sued officers — Lt. Daniel Sbarra and Sgt. Fritz Glemaud — were promoted by Kelly despite a mountain of troubling allegations against them.
Glemaud, who was promoted to sergeant supervisor detective squad in August, is the city’s second most-sued officer. His 21 suits tie him with Staten Island Narcotics Detective Vincent Orsini, who’s been accused of making several bad arrests. He shares Valentin’s disinterest in the lawsuits.
“I’m not gonna go into it, but you can sue anybody,” Orsini told The News.
The most recent suit naming Valentin is from November — and accuses him of roughing up a former All-City basketball star in retaliation for an earlier lawsuit.
“I’m going to f— you up,” Tyrone Shields, 23, quoted Valentin as saying during the chilling July 2013 encounter, where Valentin allegedly referred to himself as “the King of the Bronx.”
DAVID HANDSCHUH/NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Police Commissioner Bill Bratton is looking at ways to improve a monitoring program and risk assessment unit to identify potentially problem officers.
Shields had filed a notice of claim — the first step in a lawsuit — against Valentin a few months earlier, accusing him and other Bronx narcotics detectives of busting down his door to search for drugs.
The officers had a warrant, but it was for a different apartment, court papers say.
The Bronx district attorney’s office refused to prosecute Shields and his other friends, who were also swept up in the July arrest, finding there was “no probable cause” for cuffing them in the first place. That suit is pending, and the Law Department declined comment on the case.
Joanna Schwartz, a professor at UCLA Law School, said that while allegations contained in lawsuits are an “imperfect” source of information, they can often reveal problem officers and defects in police training.
She said when an officer is sued 10 or more times, it signals a “problem” that deserves a closer look.
“Research shows that only 1 to 2 percent of people who feel they’ve been mistreated by police file suit,” she said.
Mayor de Blasio called for more scrutiny of police suits during his campaign, and an inspector general for the NYPD is expected to be named in the coming weeks.
Bratton, meanwhile, has experience in using data from civil rights cases as an investigative tool.
While commissioner of the LAPD between 2002 and 2009, Bratton instituted a program to monitor incoming lawsuits that allowed the department to target problem crews for additional training. The program was a success.
In 2001, the LAPD was sued was 828 times, and the city paid out $58 million. In 2012, the department was sued just 223 times, and paid out $20 million in settlements.
“The department was in a better place when he left than when he arrived,” said UCLA professor Schwartz.
With Ryan Sit and Sarah Ryley
Cops will never change as long as the PD and the city will pay the law suits for the damned cops – yea, all at the tax payers expence, what a scam. These cops need to start paying for their lawsuits out of their own pockets and man up to their wrong doings as any one else would have to.