Court sketch by Alba Acevedo

In this courtroom sketch, Hon. Peter Sweeney listens during direct examination of the plaintiff by attorney John Nonnenmacher (standing), of the law firm Bader Yakaitis & Nonnenmacher, in the trial Adeyeye v. City of New York and the NYC Police Department.

At issue in the trial is the plaintiff’s claim of battery, assault, false arrest, malicious prosecution and violation of her constitutional rights under state and federal law. Court reporter Gail Eng transcribed the proceedings.

Plainclothes police officers from the 78th Precinct in Brooklyn, headquartered in Park Slope, responded to a report of a stabbing in December 2006. The victim named persons known to police, who subsequently spotted suspects outside of a Park Slope apartment building and gave chase, entering the building and the plaintiff’s apartment.

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The plaintiff, a life insurance company consultant at the time of the incident, alleged that officers threw her to the ground, hit her about her head and body and struck her in the head with a baton. Her claimed injuries included nine staples to her head. As a result of the baton strike, she claimed that she suffered from traumatic brain injury, including seizures and blackouts and migraines accompanied by nosebleeds.

The defendants, represented by attorney Matthew Accardo (seated, second from right) and associate Matthew Stein (right) of the NYC Law Dept., alleged that the plaintiff interfered in the arrest of the perpetrators and in the investigation that followed the arrest. The city claimed that any use of force was reasonable and/or justified.

After a five-week trial, the jury found unanimously for the defendants on all claims. The plaintiff’s representation is in the process of reviewing the entire case record and feels that the verdict is against the weight of the evidence in the trial that concluded last week in Kings County Civil Term.