Federal jury deliberates alleged police misconduct in Nassau

Two Nassau police officers accused of assaulting an Air Force veteran outside his Baldwin home in 2017 lied on the witness stand and in felony charges about the encounter, an attorney for the man told jurors Tuesday during closing arguments in an alleged misconduct trial by the police.

“They were looking to make an arrest,” said Fred Brewington, a Hempstead attorney who represents Robert Besedin Sr. represented in a federal civil rights violation lawsuit over the officers. “They wanted to make something happen. Why? Because they had overtime.”

But Andrew Brancato, the attorney representing the police, said there was no evidence of excessive force or misconduct as the two sides delivered closing arguments eight days after jury selection began in the federal civil lawsuit Besedin filed in 2018. jury.

The lawsuit names Nassau County, Nassau County Police, Beckwith and Mantovani as defendants.

Jury deliberations began Tuesday afternoon in federal court in Brooklyn.

In his closing remarks, Brewington reminded jurors that officers Stephen Beckwith and Dominick Mantovani had testified last week that they arrested Besedin for punching Beckwith on the hand and harassing 911 operators.

The officers themselves told jurors that they told Besedin, now 79, to turn around and put his hands behind his back so they could handcuff him. But Besedin instead pushed away from the front of his house and pushed all three off the porch, the testimony showed.

Brewington argued in his closing that Mantovani lied when he testified that he was holding Besedin’s head with his hand as they fell from the top of the porch onto a concrete path. That testimony appears to contradict a video, which shows Mantovani’s left forearm over Besedin’s neck and the officer throwing him to the ground, Brewington said, “like a professional wrestler.” Mantovani’s testimony also contradicts a statement from 2022, when he acknowledged driving Besedin down the stairs, Brewington told jurors.

Brancato told the jury in his closing remarks that Mantovani did not throw Besedin off the porch.

Brewington also told the jury that Beckwith was also dishonest when he wrote a complaint accusing Besedin of assault. Besedin was charged with second-degree assault, harassment and resisting arrest. The Nassau County District Attorney’s Office dismissed the case nearly a year later.

Beckwith wrote that Besedin violently waved his arms, kicked and screamed before pushing Mantovani down the stairs. Mantovani was treated at a hospital for abrasions, cuts and a sprained ankle. Brewington said there was no evidence that Besedin pushed Mantovani, and Mantovani testified that he was not pushed, but “hopped” down the stairs.

Brewington told the jury that there is nothing in the video from Besedin’s home security system to indicate that the officers ordered Besedin to turn around or that he was the aggressor. They called it a “shameful” and “malicious” attempt to blame him for the attack. Brewington suggested that officers arrest Besedin because of the opportunity to earn extra pay and because Beckwith had joined the Nassau County Police Department several weeks earlier and was eager to make his first arrest.

The video shown to the jury several times during the trial is dark, grainy and contains no audio. Brancato reminded the jury that Beckwith is off-camera for much of the video.

“There is no evidence anywhere that Officer Beckwith used excessive force,” Brancato said.

The video shows Mantovani’s left forearm over Besedin’s neck as Besedin fell from the porch, but the officer testified that his arm did not hit Besedin. Instead, Brancato told the jury, Mantovani held Besedin’s head to protect him from the fall.

“Officer Mantovani never threw it,” Brancato said.

Brancato told the jury that the charges of false arrest and malicious prosecution were false because officers had probable cause to arrest Besedin the last time they arrived at his home. Besedin, Brancato said, had harassed 911 operators and punched Beckwith on the hand when the officer stuck his finger in Besedin’s face. The officers were allowed to use “reasonable force” when Besedin resisted arrest, he said.

“The officers in this case were convinced that the suspect had assaulted himself when they went to arrest him,” Brancato said.

The lawsuit alleges that police violated Besedin’s civil rights by falsely arresting and maliciously prosecuting him, and that Nassau and its police department failed to properly train and supervise officers. Brewington told the jury that head injuries from the attack exacerbated a traumatic brain injury Besedin suffered in a 2003 car accident.

Brewington asked the jury to award Besedin more than $4.6 million in damages.

“This man, Mr. Besedin, could easily have been left alone on his porch,” Brewington said.

Deliberations in the case will continue Wednesday morning.