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NEW YORK : Officers Thomas Bruder (left) and
Charles Schwarz are lead into Brooklyn Federal Court by attorney Stephen Worth (center),
June 8, to await jury deliberations on the Abner Louima police torture trial. Officer
Schwarz was found guilty of assaulting Louima. Bruder was cleared of all charges.
wy/ep/Ezio Petersen UPI
NEW YORK, June 8 (UPI) _ A Brooklyn Federal Court jury has found New York police
officer Charles Schwarz guilty of helping sexually torture Haitian immigrant Abner
Louima, while three other policemen have been acquitted.
Sgt. Michael Bellomo and officers Thomas
Bruder and Thomas Wiese were cleared today after the jury deliberated for 18 hours
over three days.
The lead defendant, officer Justin Volpe,
pleaded guilty May 25 of sodomizing Louima in the bathroom of a Brooklyn police station.
"While I'm disappointed that the verdict
was not everything I wanted it to be, I am confident complete justice will be done,"
Louima said during a press conference after the trial.
Schwarz and Volpe face up to life in prison
for the brutal attack, which took place on Aug. 9, 1997, in Brooklyn's 70th Precinct
stationhouse. Louima required two months of hospitalization and multiple surgery
to recover from the beating and sodomy with a wooden stick.
For weeks, jurors hearing the case were
bombarded with graphic, incriminating evidence against Volpe _ so much so that it
drove him to admit he tortured Louima.
The panel then turned its attention to evidence
against the four other policemen on trial: Schwarz, who was accused of holding Louima
down during the sodomy attack; Bruder and Wiese, who were accused of beating Louima
in a patrol car; and Bellomo, who was accused of trying to cover up the beating.
Unlike Volpe, the case against Schwarz,
Bruder, Wiese and Bellomo was largely circumstantial.
Louima's sexual torture, one of a long string
of ugly incidents involving the New York City Police Department and members of minority
communities, sparked outrage and protests throughout the city.
Louima has launched a multimillion dollar
civil suit against New York City. His lawyers include Johnnie Cochran and Barry Scheck,
who were part of O.J. Simpson's "Dream Team" of defense lawyers during
the football great's murder trial.
Bruder called an ambulance for Louima after
the sex attack, unlocked his handcuffs, got him a chair, and fetched his shoe from
the men's room.
Louima was unable to identify any of his
attackers except for Volpe. However, he testified that the officer who assisted him
in the jail cell acted with kindness and may have saved his life.
Louima testified that he was beaten by four
men, including Volpe and the driver and passenger of the squad car that transported
him to the station.
Two police officers testified they saw Schwarz
escort a handcuffed Louima down a hallway toward the men's room with his pants hanging
below his knees.
Bellomo said outside the courthouse that
his "heart goes out" to the family of Schwarz. Bellomo said he has to "re-evaluate
if there's a place for me in this police department."
Bruder, also speaking outside the courthouse,
said "I'm not a hero," and that he had "nothing bad to say about Abner
Louima" because "a horrible thing happened to him."
The attorney for Wiese, who was acquitted
of wrongdoing in the torture case, says he doesn't believe the New York Police Department
"deserves" his client. Attorney Joseph Tacopina also said his client has
"nothing to say" to the Louima family.
Speaking of Volpe, Weise's attorney said,
"The stench Justin Volpe left permeated that courtroom."
The seven-men, five-women jury completely
cleared Bellomo, Weise and Bruder of the charges against them.
Louima's lawyers said they are preparing
a major civil lawsuit against the police department, saying they will tear down the
"blue wall" that protects officers from being disciplined for abusing citizens.
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