A licensed massage therapist is suing the city, claiming she was falsely arrested at a legit massage parlor and then forced to clean an overflowing toilet at the stationhouse before cops let her go—without even issuing her a ticket. In a lawsuit filed in Brooklyn Supreme Court yesterday, Gabrielle Vignolini, a 31-year-old mother of three, says she was giving a fully-clothed friend a "chakra rock treatment" at the Morounfola Beauty Spa in Stapleton one day last August when cops wrongly arrested her.
According to a copy of the lawsuit obtained by the Daily News, a plainclothes cop "barged in" and asked, "Can I get some?" He was asked to leave, and the Post reports that a "scuffle ensued," and Vignolini and the spa owner were arrested and taken to the 120th Precinct stationhouse. There they remained in custody for 22 hours in a "filthy, unhygienic cell" with a broken toilet that was "overflowing, causing water and waste to flood the cell's floor."
Ultimately, a female cop told Vignolini, "You're not leaving until you clean that up," referring to the toilet, the lawsuit alleges. Vignolini says she complied, at which point she was set free, along with the spa owner, without being arraigned or charged. A police spokeswoman claims the DA declined to prosecute Vignolini for unlicensed massaging, though her attorney insists she is licensed. It's now up to the courts to decide if Vignolini's story has a happy ending, or if she's just rubbing the NYPD the wrong way. (Either way, we're ashamed of ourselves for what we just did there.)
