Brooklyn Men Claim Cops Arrested Them for Not Turning Over White Castle Sliders

Two Brooklyn men are alleging
that cops tried to steal their White Castle burgers and, when
denied, arrested them. They’re suing the city of New York and the
officers over the incident, which they say took place in Coney
Island on October 31, 2012, immediately following Hurricane
Sandy. 

The cops in question were rounding up looting suspects when
plaintiffs Danny Maisonet and Kenneth Glover got out of a taxi with
a bag full of White Castle sliders. The suit,
filed in Brooklyn Federal Court, says several cops demanded Glover
and Maisonet hand over the burgers, which they refused to
do. 

The officers ordered plaintiffs to get on the ground, and asked
them what they were doing.

Plaintiff explained that they were getting food. 

The officers, including defendants (Angelo) Pizarro,
struck plaintiff in the back with their knees and
flashlights.

Despite the fact that they had no probable cause to
believe that he had committed any crimes or offenses, defendants,
including defendant Pizzarro, placed plaintiff under
arrest.

The officers transported the two men to the 61st Street
precinct, where they were held for two days before being taken to
central booking, according to the suit. The men were later
arraigned in Kings County Criminal Court on charges of disorderly
conduct and obstructing government administration.
After several court appearances, all charges against
them were eventually dismissed. 

The officers say they arrested Maisonet and Glover for
interering as they were trying to pursue looting
suspects. 

In their lawsuit against the cops, Maisonet and Glover say they
were stopped and searched without reasonable suspicion, arrested
without probable cause, and that the cops used unreasonable force
against them. They say they’ve suffered emotional distress, mental
anguish, fear, pain, bodily injury, anxiety, embarrassment,
humiliation, and reputation damage and assert that these injuries
“were a direct and proximate result of (the City) and the NYPD’s
wrongful de facto policies … and repeated failure of the
defendant City and the NYPD to properly supervise, train and
discipline their police officers.”