We have just obtained a trial verdict for our client, WK, against the City of New York and detectives Hugo Ortega, Ylka Morales, and an undercover officer known as UC 217, for injuring and then framing WK for a drug sale he had no involvement in and an attempted robbery that never happened. As reported in the Daily News, the verdict, returned August 23, 2022, is for $191,001, with our legal fees and costs to be determined later. We have since reached a settlement in which the City agreed to pay WK $200,000 in damages and to pay our legal fees and costs in the amount of $350,000.
In April 2015 UC 217 was attempting to purchase crack cocaine in Brooklyn, New York as part of a buy-and-bust operation. He gave $60 to a woman and went with her to an apartment building. Watching from outside the front door, he claimed he saw her go into the lobby, walk directly up to WK, give WK the buy money, receive back an object that he later learned was crack, and then exit the building. According to UC 217, the woman never left his sight. He also claimed that WK and others followed her out of the building and forced UC 217 into a stairwell where they kept him for over a minute while threatening to shoot and rob him. Luckily, he claimed, he was able to escape unharmed. UC 217 swore to this that night in a written statement, and then repeated his claims to prosecutors and a grand jury.
Ortega and Morales, having been told about the drug sale by UC 217, entered the lobby minutes later to arrest WK. Ortega punched WK in the stomach and threw him to the ground where, moments later while WK was lying face down, Morales kicked him twice in the face. WK required stitches to close the wound above his eyebrow.
WK was jailed for over 9 days before making bail and was prosecuted on various felony charges for nearly 20 months, during which he was offered plea deals that would have required him to spend many years in a state prison. It was only when his criminal counsel finally received surveillance video from the building that WK could establish his innocence. The video showed that the woman actually entered and walked through the lobby and then exited through a back door into another part of the building, where she remained for well over a minute. When she returned, she again walked through the lobby and then out the front door. At no time did she exchange anything with anyone in the lobby. The video also demonstrated that WK was in an elevator almost the entire time the woman was in the building. More importantly, there simply was no attempted robbery. Prosecutors dismissed the case promptly after receiving the surveillance footage.
The civil jury found that both Ortega and Morales used excessive force, and that Morales and UC 217 both caused WK to be maliciously prosecuted. WK was awarded compensatory damages for his injuries and all three officers were found liable for punitive damages. The defendants are now challenging $7,901 of the $191,001 awarded. They are not challenging the balance of the verdict. Once this motion practice is resolved, the amount of legal fees and costs also owed by the defendants will be addressed and resolved, either by agreement or, that is not possible, by the court.
What is not clear is why the City of New York insisted on trying this case in the first place. The video evidence was compelling, and the fact that the Law Department chose not to challenge the verdict (beyond the $7,901 awarded against Ortega) confirms that the defendants recognize this to be so. Knowing that, it is difficult to understand why the defendants insisted on a trial. The City lawyers’ refusal to acknowledge or address what is plainly deliberate misconduct underscores why this misconduct happens over and over again. The City’s message is that it considers brutality and perjury to be acceptable policing tools, and officers need not worry about that they will be held accountable.