Death of Michael Stewart
On September 15, 1983, aspiring artist and model Michael Stewart left the Pyramid Club in Manhattan's Lower East Side.
Officer Kostick claimed Stewart was initially cordial, but suddenly ran off and had to be restrained while waiting for the arrest transport van.
"[4] Rob Zombie, also a Parsons student at the time, recounted the incident in 2019 during an appearance on the September 16 episode of The Joe Rogan Experience podcast (#1353).
[5] Stewart was booked at the Union Square District 4 transit police headquarters for resisting arrest and unlawful possession of marijuana.
He was handcuffed, his legs were bound, and he was comatose with a blood alcohol content of 0.22, more than double the 0.10 threshold needed to arrest someone for drunk driving.
He first declared Stewart had died due to excessive drinking, alcohol poisoning, which led to the coma and subsequent heart attack; thus, the police were not at fault.
"[10] In a second autopsy conducted a month later, Gross declared that Stewart had died from a spinal cord injury in the upper neck.
"[12] Gross said Stewart's injuries, including the facial bruising and the abrasions on his wrists sustained during his arrest, were not said to contribute to his death.
[11] A grand jury investigation was initiated in October 1983 to determine what happened to Stewart in the 32 minutes between being arrested and his delivery to the hospital.
[15] On October 19, about twenty black community leaders, including City Councilwoman Mary Pinkett, protested outside the Manhattan District Attorney Robert M. Morgenthau's office at the Criminal Court Building.
In February 1984, a second grand jury introduced the case before Justice George F. Roberts which indicted three officers, John Kostick, Anthony Piscola and Henry Boerner, with criminally negligent homicide, assault and perjury.
Prosecutor Morgenthau went to the second trial with two theories, one of neck injury leading to the death and the other that beatings caused cardiac arrest.
The jury was instructed that to support a charge of criminally negligent homicide, they had to find that the officers failed to take reasonable steps to prevent death.
The prosecution hoped to establish a law requiring officers to "have an affirmative duty to protect prisoners in their custody from abuse".
[17] William McKechnie, of the Transit Patrolman's Benevolent Association, denied the officers' role in the death stating, "If someone dies of a heart attack, we are not doctors".
[18] The New York Civil Liberties Union believed the second set of indictments signaled a new direction in how prosecutors treat police abuse cases.
Richard Emery, a lawyer for the New York Civil Liberties Union, stated, "The theory underlining this case is perhaps the most important development in stemming the tide of police abuse.
The MTA Board approved additional training for transit officers in the handling of emotionally disturbed people and changed its policies on how the department's internal affairs unit becomes involved with cases of possible misconduct.
