[420 Girl]

Three New York City police officers have been acquitted of all charges in an alleged sodomy attack in a subway station.

The verdict came Monday. Officer Richard Kern faced as many as 25 years in prison on a charge of aggravated sexual abuse. Officers Andrew Morales and Alex Cruz faced up to four years in prison on charges of hindering prosecution.

Michael Mineo claimed Kern violated him with a police baton after he ran from cops inside a subway station Oct. 15, 2008. Mineo filed a $440 million lawsuit against the city.

Mineo, a body piercer who works in a tattoo parlor, spelled out his allegations in graphic terms.

"I'm embarrassed," the 24-year-old told reporters. "I didn't ask for this to happen to me. ... I'm a man. I was raped by four men who held me down and put a baton in my rectum. How am I supposed to feel?"

The suit against the city, NYPD and four officers alleges the patrolmen conspired to violate Mineo's rights on Oct. 15 with a "willfully malicious and vicious assault." It says the attack caused "extreme physical, mental and emotional harm and distress" and "exposed the plaintiff to public scandal and disgrace."

Prosecutors alleged that Kern and Morales spotted Mineo outside the subway station smoking marijuana. After they sought to stop him, he fled into the station, jumped a turnstile, ran toward the platform and hurdled another turnstile before he was pinned, handcuffed near a token booth and searched for drugs, they said.

With Mineo in a "helpless position" with his pants down, Kern took out a retractable baton and shoved it into the victim's buttocks, prosecutor said.

The baton pierced Mineo's underwear, tore his rectum and drew blood, they said.

To cover his tracks and with the other officers' knowledge, Kern wrote Mineo "a bogus summons" that was purposely backdated so it would be invalid, then warned him to keep quiet or face a felony, prosecutors said.

Police initially questioned Mineo's account and allowed the officers to stay on duty. But the case gained momentum in late October after Mineo's lawyers went public with his allegations and the district attorney launched a grand jury investigation.

http://www.420magazine.com/forums/in...domy-case.html