People v. Evans

57 Misc. 3d 320, 63 N.Y.S.3d 196
CourtNew York Supreme Court
DecidedJuly 7, 2017
StatusPublished

This text of 57 Misc. 3d 320 (People v. Evans) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering New York Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
People v. Evans, 57 Misc. 3d 320, 63 N.Y.S.3d 196 (N.Y. Super. Ct. 2017).

Opinion

OPINION OF THE COURT

Steven L. Barrett, J.

The primary issue the court once again is called upon to consider, in the context of a defendant’s motion to inspect the grand jury minutes and to dismiss the indictment, is whether a police officer’s malfeasance rises to the level of official misconduct.1 For the following reasons, the court finds that the evidence presented to the grand jury established that defendant’s conduct clearly crossed the line that separates a noncriminal serious error in judgment, which could be properly addressed in a disciplinary forum, from those actions that warrant criminal charges.

Under indictment No. 51/17, defendant has been indicted and charged with five misdemeanors—one count of official misconduct and four counts related to his driving while intoxicated or impaired.2 The evidence presented to the grand jury established in relevant part that on December 8, 2016, defendant, a New York City police officer assigned to the 52nd Precinct, was scheduled to work the midnight to 8:00 a.m. tour. Defendant reported to work late and missed roll call. When [322]*322finally he arrived at work, defendant was assigned to work with Police Officer Juan Rivera, a rookie cop with five months’ experience. The first call that defendant and Officer Rivera responded to was a dispute between two parties at 3901 Webster Avenue, apartment B5, which was approximately one fifth of a mile from the 52nd Precinct station house. Defendant drove to the location and Rivera was the passenger. Defendant and Rivera arrived at the location, proceeded to apartment B5, listened outside the apartment door and heard loud music. The officers knocked on the door and Dimitris Jiminez, a 22 year old male, opened it. After a brief conversation with defendant, Jiminez complied with defendant’s request to turn down the music and then closed the door to the apartment.

Defendant and Rivera then waited in the hallway outside apartment B5 and ascertained that the music volume had been lowered. After approximately five minutes, Rivera asked defendant why they were still waiting in the hallway. Defendant did not respond. Defendant was leaning against the wall with his arm against the doorframe of the apartment and his face appeared flushed. Jiminez, who had been looking out the peephole of his apartment door, saw that the two officers were still there despite his having turned down the music, opened the apartment door, and asked the officers why they were still there. Defendant strode over to the doorway and asked Jimi-nez whether he had a problem. Defendant then placed his body across the threshold of the apartment and wedged his foot in the door preventing Jiminez from closing the door.

Defendant remained in this position in the doorway for over 20 minutes, while arguing with Jiminez and the other occupants of the apartment and preventing them from leaving the apartment. Jiminez detected the odor of alcohol on defendant’s breath and that his speech was slurred and one of the occupants of the apartment called 911. Jiminez also asked Rivera to call a supervisor. Instead of calling for a supervisor, defendant attempted to radio a request for additional units. However, because defendant’s speech was slurred and he was not able to clearly express why he wanted additional units, Rivera got on the radio and requested a supervisor and additional units. According to Rivera, defendant was unsteady on his feet, his face was flushed and his eyes appeared glassy and spaced out.

In response to Rivera’s radio request, Sergeant Armando Colon, the precinct patrol supervisor for the midnight tour, arrived at the second floor landing and observed defendant with [323]*323his foot in the door to apartment B5. Colon spoke to both Rivera and defendant and observed that defendant’s eyes appeared glassy, his face flushed, and his breath smelled of alcohol. Colon directed defendant to take his foot out of the door and to go downstairs. Colon observed defendant swaying as he went down the stairs. After speaking to the precinct desk sergeant, Gabriel Herbert, and believing that defendant was intoxicated, Colon directed defendant and Rivera to return to the 52nd Precinct station house.

Defendant drove back to the station house and Rivera was the passenger.3 At the precinct, Sergeant Herbert and Captain Joseph Tompkins, the duty captain for the Bronx that morning who had been called to the precinct, observed that defendant’s eyes appeared glassy, that his face appeared flush and that his breath smelled of alcohol. Tompkins asked defendant if he had been drinking and defendant stated in sum and substance that he had his last drink at 5:00 p.m. and that he had been drinking wine with his wife during dinner. Tompkins believed defendant was intoxicated and unfit for duty and asked him for his firearm. Defendant, through his union representative, declined to take a field breath test. In addition, defendant was brought to the 45th Precinct for a breathalyzer test, but the testing unit refused to perform the test purportedly because defendant had not yet been arrested.

The evidence presented to the grand jury clearly established that on December 8, 2016, defendant not only reported to work in an intoxicated condition, but that he proceeded to leave the station house, drove a police vehicle, and responded in a bizarre and aberrational manner to a call involving what appeared to be a mere noise complaint. These actions incontrovertibly established all of the elements of the crime of official misconduct: (1) defendant’s actions related to his duties as a police officer; (2) defendant’s actions were an unauthorized exercise of his official functions as a police officer; (3) defendant knew his actions were unauthorized; and (4) defendant’s actions were undertaken with the intent to deprive another person of a benefit. (See Penal Law § 195.00.) With respect to the third element’s mens rea requirement of knowledge, this case presents allegations that are distinguishable from Becker, where this court found the lack of a specific departmental rule or regulation prohibiting the videotaping of an arrestee for private sat[324]*324isfaction to be a salient factor that negated the defendant police officer’s knowledge of the wrongfulness of his actions. Here, the New York City Police Department (NYPD) Patrol Guide specifically provides that police officers must “[b]e fit for duty at all times, except when on sick report,” and must “not consume intoxicants to the extent that [he or she] becomes unfit for duty.” (See Patrol Guide, Procedure No. 203-04.) With respect to the fourth element’s mens rea requirement of intent, the evidence established that defendant acted with the intent to deprive his partner, his fellow police officers, the occupants of apartment B5, and the rest of the citizens residing in the 52nd Precinct of the benefit of a sober police officer who is paid to protect and serve the public in a way that does not dishonor the badge.

Defendant admits that his actions were “incredibly stupid” serious errors in judgment, but argues that they should be handled, exclusively, internally by the NYPD and defendant further analogizes his behavior to a prosecutor who drank a couple of beers at lunch and returned to work afterwards. This argument and analogy do not withstand scrutiny.

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Related

Garrity v. New Jersey
385 U.S. 493 (Supreme Court, 1967)
People v. Feerick
714 N.E.2d 851 (New York Court of Appeals, 1999)
People v. Iannone
384 N.E.2d 656 (New York Court of Appeals, 1978)
People v. Watt
609 N.E.2d 135 (New York Court of Appeals, 1993)
People v. Ackermann
44 Misc. 3d 626 (New York Supreme Court, 2014)
People v. Grabowski
50 Misc. 3d 186 (New York Supreme Court, 2015)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
57 Misc. 3d 320, 63 N.Y.S.3d 196, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-evans-nysupct-2017.