A Sunset Park fruit vendor who was charged with assault and resisting arrest in September after an alleged altercation with police has been exonerated, thanks to a cell phone video showing an NYPD officer kicking him without provocation.
Jonathan Daza was arrested on September 14th, after cops attempted to disperse a group of vendors at a street fair whose permit had expired. Officers claimed that Daza and his sister assaulted officers after they were confronted, but a cell phone video showed an officer kicking him and walking away.
That officer, Vincent Ciardiello, was suspended just a few days after Daza's arrest, but it took prosecutors five months to dismiss the case against the vendor. According to a report in The Brooklyn Paper, the cop who accused Daza of assault had never witnessed such a crime, despite filling out a deposition swearing he did.
An assistant district attorney filled out a separate document confirming that cop's account, even though he or she had seen the video proving Daza's innocence. "They seem to have completely ignored the video at first, although the [assistant district attorney] confirmed to me that he’d seen it,” Daza's attorney, Rebecca Heinegg, told the paper. “It wasn’t until I submitted a motion and the video to the court and the ADA’s supervisors that they looked into it and came up with the memo."
Charges are also expected to be dropped against Wendy Daza, Daza's sister. The NYPD accused her of shoving an officer, though they now claim they meant to charge a different woman.
Ciardiello was suspended for 30 days, and has since returned to the force, though he is currently on modified duty.
