Suffolk drops 3 out of 5 charges against man in alleged police brutality case

Suffolk prosecutors on Wednesday dropped three of the five charges that were filed earlier this year against a criminal defendant who was allegedly assaulted by police after he was handcuffed and arrested.

Prosecutors from Suffolk District Attorney Timothy Sini’s office told Suffolk District Court Judge Richard Dunne during a brief hearing in Central Islip that they could not prove that alleged auto thief Christopher Cruz, 30, was guilty of second-degree assault, third-degree criminal mischief and resisting arrest.

A prosecutor told Dunne the office would no longer pursue the three counts against Cruz, saying they were "not sustainable charges." Cruz still faces a grand larceny charge and an additonal third-degree criminal mischief charge in connection with the Feb. 23 incident in Port Jefferson.

Two Suffolk police officers captured on a body camera video allegedly assaulting Cruz were suspended without pay and are the target of a criminal investigaiton by Sini’s office, Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone and former Suffolk Police Commissioner Geraldine Hart announced in early March.

Three other officers and a supervisor who witnessed the arrest involving Cruz were placed on modified duty after the incident and could be disciplined, Bellone and Hart said at the March 2 news conference.

Cruz was represented by a Legal Aid attorney and was not present at Tuesday’s hearing. Dunne ordered him to return to court on Feb. 25, 2022, but prosecutors said the case against Cruz could be resolved much sooner.

Officials have not identified the officers, citing the ongoing investigation, but Bellone's office released body camera footage of the arrest in March.

A spokeswoman for Suffolk police declined comment. A spokeswoman for the district attorney’s office also declined to comment on the decision to drop the charges or the state of the investigation. Legal Aid of Suffolk County did not return a request for comment.

"This is an open investigation and I will not comment any further," said Suffolk Police Benevolent Association president Noel DiGerolamo, whose union represents most of the officers disciplined as a result of the incident.

Civil rights attorney Frederick K. Brewington, who filed a notice of claim -- a precursor to a lawsuit -- against Suffolk County and its police department on Cruz’s behalf in early March, said the decision to drop the charges was welcome but long overdue.

"They should all be dealt with appropriate severity because what they did to this gentleman was nothing short of a criminal act," Brewington said on Wednesday.

Suffolk police said Cruz stole a 2015 Jeep Grand Cherokee in Port Jefferson Station late Feb. 23. Officers in an unmarked car spotted Cruz driving into the parking lot of a gas station on Route 112, and when police in marked vehicles arrived at the scene, Cruz rammed a patrol car, injuring an officer, before driving off, police officials said.

A short time later, Cruz lost control of the Grand Cherokee and slammed into a snowbank near the intersection of Canal Road and Strathmore Court in Mount Sinai, according to authorities. He rammed a second police car and crashed into a snowbank before he was arrested shortly after. A second officer was hurt while Cruz was being taken into custody, police said.

Brewington said more officers were involved in the assault than the six that Bellone and Hart claimed in March. At least a dozen officers participated in the alleged assault and failed to intervene or report the incident to superiors, he said.

The officers punched and kicked Cruz while he was face down in the dirty snow, according to the court papers filed by Brewington in May, and officers used racist language during the "vicious" assault.

A police officer also told Cruz, according to court papers: "You're lucky you didn't get a bullet in your [expletive] face, you piece of [expletive]."