Omar Rendon, a decorated Marine has sent NYPD a notice of claim, asking for $5 million after he was illegally detained and beaten in Queens. According to Rendon, he was seated in his car in a parking lot during his lunch break, watching a movie on his phone. An unmarked van pulled up next to him and two plain clothed individuals, claiming to be NYPD, hopped out and commanded him out of the car. One of the cops attempted to reach in to Rendon’s vehicle and open it. When Rendon asked for identification, he was pulled out of the car and punched in the face. He was then frisked and thrown into their van while the two “officers” illegally searched his car.
After the search, the two cops left Rendon, beaten and shaken up, without charging him or identifying themselves. Rendon was able to snap several pictures of the van’s license plate as they made their getaway. The license plate on the van came back to a Connecticut leasing company utilized by a Queens undercover narcotics unit. Representatives of the NYPD claim that they are “close to identifying” the undercover officers who perpetrated this act against the former Marine. An internal affairs investigation is underway.
The true reason that the undercover officers stopped and beat Rendon is unknown. In order to detain someone under the stop and frisk law, a very specific set of circumstances must occur. The officer must have a reasonable suspicion that a crime has, is or is about to be committed. In this case, I can hardly see how sitting in one’s vehicle can be suspicious under these circumstances. Now if Rendon was sitting in his car in the middle of the night, behind a closed business, then the stop and frisk law would be justified, as no reasonable person should be parked in that manner. In this case, however, stop and frisk cannot apply. Furthermore; if the officer does choose to frisk the detained subject, he again must meet a very specific set of circumstances to make the frisk permissible. The officer must be able to articulate facts or circumstances that show a reasonable belief that the person was armed. Secondly, the frisk (notably different from a search), is limited to the outer garments of the subject’s clothing. Finally, for the officer to enter into the clothing to conduct a search, he must be able to articulate a reasonable belief that an object felt during a frisk, is in fact a weapon. Citizens have rights and in situations where an officer is attempting to search or frisk someone, they often use “verbal judo” in order to fool the person into granting consent. Knowing your rights is the only way to stand up to this type of police bullying.
Rendon stated “I don’t think [these cops] represent the police department the right way.” Rendon’s lawyer also issued a statement indicating, “this vicious attack is a complete violation of all the rights this decorated Marine risked his life to preserve.”
Sources:
http://countercurrentnews.com/2015/02/nypd-stop-frisk-this-marine-sgt-for-no-reason/
http://caselaw4cops.net/searchandseizure/stopfrisk.htm
Although not decorated I am a former marine that has had the same treatment. People that think they have inalienable rights are fooling themselves.