“A Brooklyn man who claimed the police manufactured gun-possession charges against him had his case dismissed on Thursday, amid two investigations into the practices of a group of police officers in the 67th Precinct in East Flatbush,” nytimes.com reports. “The officers claimed that they got a tip from a confidential informer that Mr. Herring had a gun. Prosecutors had been instructed to bring the informer to court on Thursday; the defense had challenged whether that informer even existed. At the hearing, prosecutors offered no evidence or mention of that informer.” A red herring for Herring? Only it’s not so funny, especially when we learn that . . .
In researching the case, a lawyer for Mr. Herring, Debora Silberman of Brooklyn Defender Services, found others that mirrored it, involving the same group of police officers. In the other cases, defendants also said the guns were planted, with the police saying that officers saw the suspects storing the guns in plastic bags or handkerchiefs . . .
One man, Eugene Moore, could not afford bail. He spent a year in jail until a hearing in which a judge said he did not find the testimony from a detective, Gregory Jean-Baptiste, “to be credible” and dismissed and sealed the case. Another man, John Hooper, also spent almost a year in jail after his arrest. After a hearing in which a justice said he found it “incredible that they thought it was a gun,” speaking of the officers, prosecutors offered Mr. Hooper time served and he accepted.
Do I need to say it? I’m not against cops. I’m against bad cops. And cops that enable bad cops. (“Representatives for their unions said the officers had taken more than 300 guns off the streets.“) Does anyone seriously believe that the Brooklyn officers involved in all these cases were operating without the knowledge and approval of their superiors? Question: why aren’t the officers named in the Times’ report?
Equally, I oppose bad laws. Americans should be able to exercise their natural, civil and Constitutional right to keep and bear arms without infringement.
When the State of New York can incarcerate a citizen for carrying a gun – and nothing else – they’re pissing on the rights protected by the Constitution, to which the officers swear an oath. Is it any surprise that the agents in charge of enforcing those laws go rogue? Not to me it isn’t. You?