A new civil rights lawsuit filed Friday against the NYPD provides an instructive glimpse into the department's practice of community policing, revealing how dozens of officers escalated a routine noise complaint into a violent takedown and alleged cover-up.

The complaint was prompted by a police encounter last summer, in which Detective Fabio Nunez was seen on video appearing to choke a 33-year-old Inwood resident, Tomas Medina. Nunez has a lengthy history of alleged misconduct, resulting in five separate settlements that have cost taxpayers more than $220,000 in the last fifteen years. Still, he was promoted in 2015 to Neighborhood Coordination Officer, as part of Mayor Bill de Blasio's community policing initiative.

According to the suit, Medina was sitting with friends outside a car dealership in Washington Heights last July when Detective Nunez and Officer Shanee Hansler, working an "overtime post" for the Neighborhood Coordination Unit, approached the group and told them to turn down their music.

While the group quickly turned off the speakers and began packing up their stuff, Detective Nunez demanded to see the man's identification, the complaint states. When Medina replied that he did not have ID and that the speaker was not his to begin with, the detective replied: "Okay this is very simple. You're going to fuck with me, right?...You give me a real name, you get a charge. You understand me? That's what it's going to be, like that."

Video shows Medina, who does not speak English, picking up one of the folding chairs and walking it back to the dealership. Nunez, without apparent provocation, then grabs the man by the neck and throws him into a car. He proceeds to place Medina in a chokehold for 23 seconds, allegedly shooting him with a Taser more than a dozen times.

As officers forcibly detained Medina, a crowd gathered outside the dealership. Within minutes, more than 20 officers arrived at the scene, further inflaming the situation, per the suit.

The new officers allegedly blocked bystanders from filming. Some witnesses attempted to appeal to the officers humanity, the complaint states, but were told by Officer Angela Polancobrito: "No, I'm not a human. No. You are not either...I'm a cop. I'm not a human."

(Leaked documents obtained by BuzzFeed show that Polancobrito's termination was previously recommended by the CCRB in 2012, after she was found guilty of lying about a use of force incident and making "numerous anonymous telephone calls to an NYPD sergeant...in a manner likely to cause harm or annoyance." She ultimately received one year of "dismissal probation.")

The alleged brutality against Medina continued after he was brought back to the precinct. The complaint states that Officers Christopher Sciliano and Nay Htoo intentionally humiliated the man by leaving him with his pants down in a high-traffic area of the station. Another detective, who has not been identified, is accused of slapping Medina in the back of the head while he was handcuffed.

While Nunez was being searched, the officers who initiated the stop were allegedly working to downplay their conduct. A criminal complaint states that Medina bit Nunez's hand and struck Officer Hansler in the face. Neither of those alleged attacks were captured on video, and Medina maintains they were fabricated "solely for the purpose of distracting from...the unlawful use of force, most notably the chokeholds."

Neighborhood Officer Fabio Nunez was promoted to Detective for #NeighborhoodPolicing. He also served in the @USNavy pic.twitter.com/4OflpZSSvt — NYPD 34th Precinct (@NYPD34Pct) November 11, 2015

Medina was ultimately charged with two counts of assault and one count of resisting arrest. He appeared in Manhattan Supreme Criminal Court at least eight times, before eventually receiving an adjournment in contemplation of dismissal (ACD) from Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance Jr.

An inquiry opened into the incident by the Civilian Complaint Review Board substantiated Medina's claims that he was placed in an illegal chokehold and tased in a manner that violates NYPD guidelines.

Asked why the case was not fully dismissed, given the oversight board's findings, a spokesperson for Vance's office said he would look into the matter, but did not provide further information.

Nunez was also the subject of an Internal Affairs Bureau investigation, which confirmed the banned use of a chokehold, though not the Taser complaint. It's unclear whether he has faced any discipline over the incident. A spokesperson for the NYPD would say only that they are reviewing the lawsuit.

Oh and to boot, Nunez is a proven liar, has an adverse credibility ruling against him, and yet the Manhattan DA IS STILL PROSECUTING TOMAS MEDINA FOR THIS INCIDENT pic.twitter.com/sfN3AWOOyK — Ali Winston (@awinston) October 11, 2019

Nunez would be the first police officer to face an administrative NYPD trial for the use of a chokehold maneuver since Daniel Pantaleo, who was fired this summer for placing Eric Garner in a fatal chokehold. An investigation by the Times published earlier this year found that only a tiny fraction of officers found guilty of using chokeholds ever face discipline from the department.

Beyond showing the department's unwillingness to police its own members, legal advocates said the case underscored the many ways in which the NYPD's focus on quality-of-life policing has continued to backfire.

"The reason that this escalated is because officers insisted on getting identification for a ticket for a noise violation," Cynthia Conti-Cook, a staff attorney for the Legal Aid Society, told Gothamist. "Broken windows policing tends to increase tension and violence in communities, rather than reducing it."

A spokesperson for Mayor Bill de Blasio's did not respond to a request for comment.