To Serve & Terrorize: NYPD Officer Is Sued For Catastrophic Raid

Source: Spencer Platt / Getty

One New York Resident Gives A Chilling Account

Another moment of police terror reportedly went down in New York last year, and now a resident of the city is taking action.

According to New York Daily News, a Brooklyn cop, who’s been accused of years of civil rights violations and false arrests, is once again being sued for excessive conduct.

Evelyn Gonzalez, 51, who works as a security guard is accusing Sgt. David (Bellethead) Grieco of carrying out an early-morning raid at her Brownsville apartment, then arresting her and a family friend Tray Stroman, 27, on trumped-up charges that were dropped before they even got a chance to appear before a judge. Gozalez has filed a notice of claim and according to their lawyer, if a settlement is not agreed upon, they will file a lawsuit in state court alleging wrongful arrest.

The whole incident went down shortly after 7 a.m. on April 13, 2018 when Gonzalez was asleep in her room and Stroman, who works in a barbershop, was resting on the couch. Emergency Service cops tried to bust through the front door so one of Gonzalez’s four children, Joseph Cordova, 24, left from his bed to open it.

That’s when police rushed in with Grieco and other officers having their guns drawn, according to Gonzalez and Stroman.

Neither Gonzalez nor Storman have ever been arrested, however Cordova has been arrested ten times, including two cases that are still pending for possession of a knife and for possession of drugs. He was convicted in 2014 for weapons possession, for which he received five years probation.

Cordova, who isn’t apart of the lawsuit, and his mother believe the raid was part of an ongoing attempt to harass Cordova, considering that past charges against him didn’t stick.

The cops allegedly swept through the apartment, flipped a living room table, and broke two televisions AND a humidifier that Gonzalez needs for her asthma.

The cops also allegedly rampaged through the kitchen, dumping coffee and oatmeal on the floor. “They even ate my bananas,” Gonzalez said. Stroman, who posts rap videos online, went on to say the cops plugged their phones into a speaker and listened to his music. “I’m like, ‘Is this a warrant for music?” Stroman said. “I was lost.”

It’s not clear if the cops even had a warrant to search the apartment. Gonzalez said when she asked, the cop tried to use a restaurant flyer to pass as a warrant.

Gonzalez and Stroman said Grieco continually asked about guns and drugs, indicating the cops were tipped off. However, no guns or narcotics were found. The police only focused on one marijuana joint in the living room and two in a bedroom. Cordova admitted that he does smoke marijuana.

The nightmare continued after the raid when Gonzalez said that she, Cordova and Stroman were handcuffed and taken into custody. Gonzalez said she and Stroman spent around 18 hours in custody and she said the police didn’t even give her access to her medicine. When they finally got out, The Brooklyn District Attorney’s office declined to prosecute them.

Cordova was charged with marijuana possession and possession of a forged credit card, but the case was adjourned and dismissed soon after. Gonzalez says when she got home, $800 was missing from a jacket in her closet – money she said she was saving for her two granddaughters.

On top of all this, Gonzalez’s Brownsville apartment is covered by the 73rd Precinct, but they were taken to the 67th Precinct where Grieco is assigned. No one has yet to explain why Grieco was carrying out a raid in a precinct he wasn’t even assigned to, although investigations do often cross precinct lines.

Grieco, 48, has a long history of being an ain’t sh** officer, including searching two homes without a warrant and being involved in a 2013 75th Precinct investigation. The anti-crime unit at the time was accused of illegal apartment searches and the theft of jewelry and thousands of dollars, according to court papers, Internal Affair docs and police sources. Over the years, Grieco has been the defendant in 29 lawsuits.

But yet…

This man is still on the force.

Gonzalez’s and Stroman’s lawyer Joel Berger said, “For this cowboy to still be on the force is outrageous. He should have been terminated years ago. The fact that he hasn’t been is really indicative of the travesty the NYPD discipline system is.”

Grieco is currently a sergeant who was one of NYPD’s top overtime earners in 2017. His $73,000 of extra pay upped his salary to $190,000 and last year he made $164,700.

Out of the 29 lawsuits against Grieco, 16 of them were settled, costing the city more than half-million dollars.