Abner Louima (born November 24, 1966[1]) is a Haitian American man who, in 1997, was physically attacked, brutalized, and raped by officers of the New York City Police Department (NYPD) after he was arrested outside a Brooklyn nightclub.

He has set up the Abner Louima Foundation to establish a hospital and community centers in Haiti, Florida, and New York for Haitian residents, immigrants, and others in need.

[3] On the night of August 9, 1997, the police were called and several officers from the 70th Precinct were dispatched to the scene where Abner Louima and other men had been involved in a fight between two women in Club Rendez-Vous, a popular nightclub in East Flatbush, Brooklyn.

According to trial testimony, Volpe walked through the precinct holding the bloody, excrement-stained instrument in his hand, bragging to a police sergeant that he "took a man down tonight.

Louima also initially claimed that the officers involved in the attack called him a racial slur and shouted, "This is Giuliani-time" during the beating.

On August 29, 1997, an estimated 7,000 demonstrators marched to the New York City Hall and the 70th Precinct station house at 154 Lawrence Avenue where the attack took place.

[12] Mike McAlary, a New York Daily News journalist, investigated and reported an exposé of the brutalization of Louima by NYPD officers.

[13] Volpe was charged with several counts in federal court of violating Louima's civil rights, obstruction of justice, and making false statements to police; he plead "not guilty".

[19] Volpe identified Wiese, not Schwarz, as the second man in the bathroom, in a recorded interview on news show 60 Minutes, a fact not brought up in the trial.

[30] There, he discussed setting up the Abner Louima Foundation, a nonprofit organization to raise additional money to build a community center and hospital in Haiti.

Louima indicated he had plans to use his own money and donations to open community centers in Haiti, New York, and Florida for Haitians and others seeking legal, financial or other aid.

In a rare interview, Louima said he is convinced that he can make a difference in his impoverished homeland: "Maybe God saved my life for a reason, I believe in doing the right thing.

[29] Louima has since participated in anti-police brutality protests with Al Sharpton, notably over the shooting of Sean Bell in November 2006, and on August 9, 2007, exactly 10 years after his attack.

On the latter date, Louima was honored in New York City by the National Action Network (an organization founded by Sharpton), at the House of Justice, for his resolve and for helping others who have suffered from police brutality.