All charges were dropped yesterday against a disabled truck driver whose severe beating at the hands of a baton-swinging cop on the Lower East Side was caught on video.
"I feel beautiful," said Michael Cephus, 47, as he left Manhattan criminal court talking with his lawyer on the phone about suing for malicious prosecution.
He sustained a cracked knee cap and multiple bruises last July 4, when Officer Maurice Harrington hit him 10 times with the metal baton on Delancey Street, the video shows.
Cephus, accused of assaulting the cop, had faced up to 15 years in prison. Harrington, under investigation, is on modified, no-gun work status, officials said.
"Without that video, it would have been a whole different story," Cephus said, thanking the two anonymous bystanders who slipped the film to his friend - before they, too, were arrested for disorderly conduct.
"We'd really like to talk to them," said Cephus' lawyer, Steven Orlow.
#12. To: Jethro Tull, indietx, psusa, rotara, christine, fred mertz, twentytwelve, artisan, original_intent, lodwick, wudidiz, james deffenbach, all (#0)
IndieTX have you seen this vid???
See they arrested the ones who took the video too, Thank God the pigs didnt steal and destroy the video!!!
the cameraman should sue also for false arrest and conspiracy. and etc.
See, the pigs were willing to have this victim go down for almost 20 years for NOTHING!! this makes me sick and is why more people need not be afraid to film cops. Yet many cops would say it's outright illegal to film them. Just outrageous. This is a saver.