BEDFORD-STUYVESANT, BROOKLYN — A Bed-Stuy teen watched police officers put his brother in a chokehold and repeatedly tase his sickly father into a heart attack, then was punched in the head by a cop when he started to scream, according to a lawsuit against the NYPD.

The Greene family can sue five NYPD officers for a slew of violent arrests that took place on the family's Bed-Stuy front lawn in 2014, according to a Brooklyn federal judge ruling issued Tuesday. Sergeant Erek Powers and police officers Mark Xylas, Ryan Galvin, Romando Julien and Vaughan Ettienne — a body-builder reportedly suspended for steroid use — may now face trial on charges of an unlawful search, false arrest of a 15-year-old boy, and assault and battery against the father and son.



"This is a good thing for the simple fact that the case will go forward and there will be some accountability," said the Greene's attorney, Richard Washington. "If there's justification for what happened, I don't know what that is."

The five cops arrived at the Greene family's Macdonough Street home on Aug. 29 with an arrest warrant for Yasin Greene, now 26, on a nonviolent disorderly conduct charge and an anonymous tip about possible weapons dealing, according to court records and Washington. The cops knocked on the door as the family was eating breakfast, then burst into the apartment, locked Yasin in handcuffs and led him out of the building, according to the complaint and judge's ruling.

Yasin Greene's father Anthony, 53, and three brothers — Messiah, Kwane and Blacksun — rushed onto the front lawn where they watched Yasin be marched toward an unmarked police car, the complaint says.

When Kwane Greene, 28, attempted to pass Officer Xylas, the cop shoved him against a car and arrested him, according to the decision.

Messiah Greene, then 18, ran toward Kwane and tried to separate him from the cops, but Powers grabbed him from behind, put him in a chokehold, kicked his legs out and slammed him to the ground, records show. The judge ruled these arrests were lawful because Messiah and Kwane Greene physically tried to stop the cops, but said what happened next merited closer inspection.