Not too shocking it's only a civil verdict.
He's been getting away with beating up citizens for 17 years and the city has let it happen, but now they will pay... $65,000. Punitive damages are still pending. I guess that is about the most you can hope for in justice.
http://www.timesunion.com/AspStories/story.asp?storyID=667482
Albany police officer William Bonanni was found guilty by a federal jury in Utica on Wednesday of brutalizing a black suspect during an arrest in Arbor Hill six years ago.
Bonanni, a 17-year veteran of the force, has been the target of numerous civilian complaints for using excessive force against minorities, but there is no indication he was ever disciplined as a result, according to departmental records filed in the lawsuit.
The civil verdict by the federal jury concluded that race was a factor when Bonanni stood on the handcuffed man's head, grinding the victim's face into the asphalt in front of numerous police officers. The victim, Phillip Lewis, 43, also claimed that Bonanni pulled down Lewis' pants on Livingston Avenue and separated his buttocks to look for contraband as onlookers screamed for the police to stop.
He's been getting away with beating up citizens for 17 years and the city has let it happen, but now they will pay... $65,000. Punitive damages are still pending. I guess that is about the most you can hope for in justice.
http://www.timesunion.com/AspStories/story.asp?storyID=667482
Albany police officer William Bonanni was found guilty by a federal jury in Utica on Wednesday of brutalizing a black suspect during an arrest in Arbor Hill six years ago.
Bonanni, a 17-year veteran of the force, has been the target of numerous civilian complaints for using excessive force against minorities, but there is no indication he was ever disciplined as a result, according to departmental records filed in the lawsuit.
The civil verdict by the federal jury concluded that race was a factor when Bonanni stood on the handcuffed man's head, grinding the victim's face into the asphalt in front of numerous police officers. The victim, Phillip Lewis, 43, also claimed that Bonanni pulled down Lewis' pants on Livingston Avenue and separated his buttocks to look for contraband as onlookers screamed for the police to stop.