Christopher Cruz, Suffolk County reach $3M settlement in 2021 police misconduct lawsuit

Suffolk County has reached a $3 million settlement with a man who filed a federal lawsuit that said he was beaten in 2021 by police officers while he was handcuffed and face down in dirty snow, according to court filings, after he had been arrested for allegedly stealing a car. 

Christopher Cruz, of Long Beach, filed the lawsuit in the Eastern District of New York in 2022. It contended that Suffolk police officers punched, kicked and threatened Cruz, who allegedly had stolen a 2020 Jeep Grand Cherokee, after his arrest in Mount Sinai on Feb. 24, 2021.

The complaint argued Cruz was targeted by officers because he is Hispanic and that the assault was part of a long-standing pattern of discrimination against Latino communities by Suffolk police.

It alleged that Cruz was subjected to hate-filled taunts and slurs by police who beat him. One officer told Cruz as he was handcuffed with his face to the ground to "eat the [expletive] snow, you [ethnic slur]," according to the lawsuit. The complaint also claims a cop told Cruz, "You are lucky you didn’t get a bullet in your [expletive] face."

Part of the Cruz incident was caught on video by one of only 10 Suffolk officers equipped with body-worn cameras at the time.The settlement is believed to be the first on Long Island driven by body cameras. Officials rolled out a departmentwide body camera program in July 2022, part of the police reform plan undertaken by Suffolk police in the wake of George Floyd’s killing by Minneapolis officers in 2020.

The Cruz lawsuit, which sought $120 million in damages, named Suffolk County, former Suffolk Police Commissioner Geraldine Hart and several officers as defendants. It said Cruz suffered a concussion, blurred vision, headaches, cuts, lacerations, bleeding and mental anguish as a result of the beating.

"This is a fair settlement to a level of police misconduct that should be fully addressed other than just the money being paid," said Cruz's attorney, Hempstead civil rights lawyer Frederick K. Brewington. "Mr. Cruz was victimized on the night of his abuse. He was victimized by being falsely charged. And he was victimized by officers who escaped prosecution. ... It is our hope the county addresses that."

Suffolk police declined to comment, spokeswoman Dawn Schob said. Lou Civello, the president of the Suffolk County Police Benevolent Association, declined to comment.

Michael Martino, a spokesman for Suffolk Executive Edward P. Romaine, also declined to discuss the settlement. 

The settlement must be approved by the court and by Suffolk County Legislature's Ways and Means Committee before it is finalized. The Ways and Means Committee in March agreed to pay $3 million to the estate of Walter Kellogg, a Shirley man who was allegedly shot and killed by a now-terminated officer, Frank Santanello, outside his home in 2018.

In January, the committee also approved a $600,000 payment to Jessica Roger, who said she was assaulted by Santanello in her Shirley home in 2012.

Suffolk police said in February 2021 that Cruz had rammed a police car with the stolen vehicle and then fled the scene, later crashing into a snowbank and ramming another police vehicle. Police said two officers were injured during the incident.

The lawsuit, however, alleges that Cruz was attempting to leave the gas station when his vehicle was struck by a police car driven by Officer Frank Filiberto, a defendant in the case. Cruz surrendered and was pulled from his vehicle and handcuffed. He was then kicked, punched and pushed to the ground. According to the lawsuit, at least 15 officers participated in the attack or failed to intervene.

Cruz was charged with second-degree assault, third-degree criminal mischief and resisting arrest after he was assaulted, but Suffolk prosecutors dropped those charges and Cruz eventually pleaded guilty to petit larceny.

Cruz is in Fishkill Correctional Facility in Dutchess County, serving a 1½- to 3-year prison sentence after pleading guilty to grand larceny in a separate case, according to New York State records. That sentence stems from a 2023 arrest in which he was accused of stealing credit cards and then making purchases in Nassau County.

The Suffolk County Police Department’s Internal Affairs Bureau found that five officers and two sergeants committed 19 violations during the incident, according to IAB records obtained by Newsday last year.

An arbitrator upheld the county’s termination of Officer William Bubeck, who was seen in the video kicking Cruz while he was handcuffed, agreeing that he had used excessive force. Bubeck was also accused of lying to investigators. He is barred from working as a law enforcement officer across New York State.

Bubeck’s attorney, Anthony La Pinta, told Newsday last year the county had scapegoated his client. He called the kicks “necessary and reasonable,” since Cruz had engaged in criminal behavior and placed other motorists in danger, as well as the police officers who tried to stop him.

Investigators also determined that Filiberto gave a false sworn statement when he said Cruz had rammed his police car while fleeing from officers. The county moved to fire Filiberto in 2022 after he admitted surveillance video showed his version of the crash was “not true,” according to the IAB document reviewed by Newsday.

Filiberto retired in January 2023, but the county continued to seek his firing. An arbitrator awarded a "postretirement termination" in August 2023, noting that Filiberto’s "retirement does not insulate him from the consequences of misconduct while still working as a sworn officer.”

In an interview with Newsday last year, Filiberto said his initial claim about Cruz ramming his car was “exactly how I felt that night after I was injured." He acknowledged his version was not accurate but defended the actions of his colleagues apprehending an alleged car thief who disregarded other people’s lives. "These are the men you want to be keeping the Suffolk streets safe," he said.

Three other officers were also disciplined as a result of the Cruz incident, according to the IAB records.

Nassau police began equipping officers with body cameras in the fall of 2021, but the devices do not appear to have played a role in misconduct settlements. Nassau lawmakers agreed in July to pay more than $1.7 million to a Baldwin man who accused officers of hurling him down the front steps of his home in 2017. Video from the man's home security system played a key role in that case.