Staten Island man claims he was beaten by four NYPD officers
NEW YORK (WABC) -- A Staten Island man claims he was severely beaten by four NYPD officers who responded to his home about a noise complaint. The interaction was captured on cell phone video.
"I look at it and I'm disturbed, I'm disturbed as a person, a gay man, as a human being," Louis Falcone said.
Falcone cringes watching the cell phone video from June 19th.
That's him in the video, surrounded by four NYPD officers, who allegedly beat the 30-year-old.
In a just filed lawsuit, Falcone maintains, the group used excessive force as he drifted in and out of consciousness. At one point, he says, an officer yelled a gay slur.
"I had mud all over my face and blood, blood was gushing from my nose and mouth, at that point I tried to get some...clear my airway, spit some mud out, and that's when the officer said, 'Don't let him get any on you, the *expletive* probably has AIDS,'" Falcone said.
It went down June 19th outside of Falcone's Staten Island home.
He says his brother, Scott, came home drunk, that the two had a heated verbal argument. Scott left, but their mother called 911.
By now, Falcone was back in bed.
When officers showed up, they told him they were responding to a noise complaint, and they asked him to step outside.
He asked why, and tells Eyewitness News that without warning, the officers dragged him to the ground and the blows started coming.
At one point, you hear Falcone tell his mother, who was standing in the doorway, to call 911.
He insists he was not resisting, and at just 5'5'' and 150 pounds, was no match for the officers.
"At that point I was just like whatever is going to happen is going to happen and I just gave up," Falcone said.
He woke up in the hospital with, among other things, a broken nose.
Tuesday afternoon, his attorney met with Internal Affairs who says it will hand over the officers' names next week.
Eric Subin points out that in the end Falcone was never arrested or charged with anything.
"They belong in jail; them losing their jobs is the tip of the iceberg," said Eric Subin, Falcone's attorney.
