A group of police officers in Rochester, N.Y., plan to sue the city and the police department after being accused of improperly handling an alleged gay bashing in 2007.
Officers David Macfall, Stephen Tortora, Stephen Ward, and Michael Yodice claim they were targets of internal investigations because of pressure from police and city officials, the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle reported Tuesday. Internal affairs investigators told the officers that the probe was a result of pressure from city officials.
Advocate.com reported at the time that the alleged victims said four people punched them, kicked them, and struck them with a metal rod and verbally abused them with antigay epithets during a June 1, 2007, attack. There were a total of eight alleged victims in two groups, in a mix that included men and women, gays and straights.
Police officers arrived and eventually let the attackers go, though confrontations broke out between law enforcement and the victims, who claim, according to the article, that at least two officers used gay slurs before arresting three of them.
An investigation also found that there was no assault before the police arrived and the police did not act improperly. However, a parallel federal court lawsuit against the police says that they ignored the crime and the use of antigay epithets.
Rochester police chief David Moore claimed the officers faced multiple allegations of misconduct, but a grand jury refused to indict them last October.
New York State's hate-crimes law addresses bias crimes based on sexual orientation, according to the Human Rights Campaign. (Michelle Garcia, The Advocate)
