Cops Beat Me after My Sister was Hit & Killed by Off-Duty Cop

New York Daily News

Cops beat me after sis slain, she claims
BY CHRISENA COLEMAN
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
Monday, May 15th, 2006

The sister of a 12-year-old Bronx girl who was run over and killed by an off-duty cop is hitting the NYPD with a police-brutality lawsuit, charging she was beaten and thrown to the ground by cops at the scene of the fatal accident.
A lawsuit to be filed today by attorney Sanford Rubenstein alleges that 23-year-old Latoya Richardson was brutally beaten by cops after she crossed the police line at the scene at E. 181st St. and the Grand Concourse.

Richardson's sister, Virginia Verdee, a bubbly sixth-grader, was walking home from a Friday night church service at Love Gospel Assembly Church on Sept. 23, 2005, when she darted out in front of the off-duty cop's Jeep.

Richardson told the Daily News that she had gone to pick up her sister from church and found out she had been struck by a car driven by off-duty cop Michael Carlo.

Richardson said she saw the damage to the car and went across the street to buy a disposable camera to take pictures of the cop's dented car, the skid marks and her sister's splattered blood.

"After I took the pictures, I put the camera in my purse," Richardson said. "Two cops came running up behind me. One cop grabbed my purse and another tackled me to the ground.

"He put his knee in my back, Maced me, twisted my arm," she continued. "I couldn't believe I was assaulted by the cops. My sister had been hit by a car and was dying, and the cops beat me up and charged me with disorderly conduct."

The disorderly conduct charge against Richardson was later dismissed. No charges were filed against the off-duty officer.

Rubenstein said his client suffered severe injuries to her back and shoulder and still has a great deal of pain.

"The police were negligent," he charged. "It is unconscionable that Latoya Richardson would be assaulted and battered by police officers."

"Nobody deserves to be attacked by the police," said Richardson. "I am still distraught over the death of my sister and the way the police beat me. It wasn't right, and I didn't deserve it."