25-year-old Omar Rendon, a former Marine sergeant, told the New York Daily News that on January 15, he was sitting in his car in Queens on his lunch break when two plainclothes officers approached screaming “Police! Get out of the car” before reaching through the window to unlock the door.
Rendon claims that, after being pulled from the car, he was punched in the face after asking to see identification. The officers then went through his pockets, handcuffed him, and threw him into the back of a van.
"I told them, 'I'm a Marine, what are you guys looking for?'" Rendon said. "I thought it was a kidnapping."
After about twenty minutes, Rendon says, the cops released him without any explanation and drove off. Badly bruised, Rendon followed the van and photographed the license plate using his cellphone. The plate was traced back to a Connecticut leasing company that the NYPD’s narcotics unit often uses for their unmarked vehicles, according to the Daily News.
The Queens Narcotics unit, and the department's Organized Crime Control Bureau inspections unit, is close to identifying the two plainclothes officers involved in the incident. Police sources say that this is being investigated as police misconduct rather than a criminal offense.
According to Rendon’s attorney Scott Rynecki, Rendon was taken to the Long Island Jewish Medical Center for treatment of bruises and a possible deviated septum.
“This vicious attack is a complete violation of all the rights this decorated Marine risked his life to preserve,” said Rynecki.
Rendon’s suit seeks $5 million in damages.
