BROOKLYN: Gay Man Accuses NYPD Of Beating Him During Party Arrest

The New York Times reports that a Brooklyn gay man has accused the NYPD of shouting anti-gay epithets while beating him during an arrest following their attempt to shut down an allegedly loud party at his home.

The man, Jabbar Campbell, 32, held a news conference on Thursday at which he showed videotaped images captured by security cameras that he had installed inside his apartment and in front of his building as a deterrent to thieves. The videos did not show any beating. But one camera, aimed at the building’s front stoop, showed a police sergeant reaching up and turning it around, toward a wall. A second set of images, recorded several minutes later, showed several police officers walking through Mr. Campbell’s apartment, on the second floor of the building; Mr. Campbell and his lawyer, Herbert S. Subin, accused the officers of conducting an illegal search without a warrant. Mr. Subin said that he thought the police had “targeted” Mr. Campbell because he was hosting a party whose guests included transsexuals and transvestites, and contended that the presence of the officers at Mr. Campbell’s home was very likely a result of “homophobic concerns and not for any legitimate police purposes.”

The NYPD says their internal affairs division is investigating the incident. Campbell told the NYT about the scene at his door.

When Mr. Campbell opened the door, one officer pushed the door all the way open and several others poured into the entryway, with one officer shouting “get him,” he said. “I didn’t have a chance to say anything, do anything,” Mr. Campbell said. “I got bum rushed.” For up to a couple of minutes, Mr. Campbell said, several officers pummeled him in the hallway, adding that he “blacked out” briefly and was “leaking blood.” As they punched him, Mr. Campbell said, officers repeatedly yelled “stop resisting,” although he said he was not struggling against them. Mr. Campbell said that the officers also shouted antigay epithets as they struck him. Mr. Campbell’s roommate, Dante Singleton, 21, said that he looked into the entryway from the top of a staircase and saw several officers pinning Mr. Campbell against a wall. “A few of the officers started whaling on him,” Mr. Singleton said.