NYPD officer accused of pointing gun at civilian employee in the department
LOWER MANHATTAN (WABC) -- An NYPD officer is charged with menacing and accused of pointing a loaded gun at a civilian employee within the department.
It comes after that same employee sued the officer and the department after she says she endured years of sexual and racial harassment.
Officer Quilbvio Espinal appeared in court on Tuesday morning where he was arraigned on an indictment for allegedly pointing his firearm at the colleague in the information security office.
He entered a plea of not guilty to the menacing and official misconduct charges.
Espinal is accused of pointing his loaded department-issued gun at the female employee's face in March -- then placing the gun on her desk facing her in an act of intimidation.
She reported the incident to her supervisor later that day and Espinal was arrested and place on modified duty.
His attorney denies the allegations.
"This is what I'm going to make clear, he never at any time intended or did point a gun at anybody, never, it never happened," defense attorney Robert Gottlieb said. "He never pointed the gun at the alleged victim or anybody else. End of comment."
The victim's family released the following statement:
"It is hard to imagine a more frightening betrayal than having a sworn officer point his firearm at you inside One Police Plaza, the one place that should be the safest in this city. Rather than answer for that, the defense has resorted to attacking the victim-even though the facts could not be clearer."
District Attorney Alvin Bragg said, "Nobody should have to experience the kind of menacing and dangerous behavior alleged in this troubling incident."
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