Legal Aid Society

News

LAS Secures Full Dismissal for Client Attacked by NYPD, Charged with Bogus Crimes

The Legal Aid Society secured the full dismissal of charges pending in a case from earlier this spring against Joseph Troiano, a Legal Aid client who was brutally assaulted by New York City Police Department officers while riding the subway, reports the New York Post.

Mr. Toriano was initially charged with felony assault and resisting arrest, but after Legal Aid released body-worn camera footage of the attack, the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office dismissed the top felony offense.

Despite widespread outrage, it took roughly six months for prosecutors to dismiss the remaining resisting arrest charge, which lacked any legal basis and should have been dismissed months ago.

“It is unconscionable that the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office, along with Mayor de Blasio and NYPD Commissioner Shea, absolved officers Adonis Long and Shimul Saha of any wrongdoing, despite clear video showing how the pair singled out our client and then resorted to violence on first impulse,” said Edda Ness, a staff attorney with the Manhattan Trial Office at The Legal Aid Society.