[5] Mineo was under indictment on felony assault charges stemming from an unrelated incident for which he was arrested on April 18, 2008.
[5] During that time, he left for New York City; soon thereafter he was arrested on marijuana possession and was found to be carrying the stolen credit cards.
[7] However, the Civilian Complaint Review Board cleared him of wrongdoing and Kern says the excessive force claims were a "complete lie".
[8] On October 15, 2008, Michael Mineo was allegedly smoking a marijuana joint outside the Prospect Park station in Flatbush.
[2][5] When approached by police officers, Mineo ran into the train station, jumped the turnstile, but was caught and handcuffed near the token booth.
[8] According to Mineo, after he was handcuffed and pinned down, Richard Kern pulled down his pants and shoved a police radio antenna into his anus.
[12] This case has drawn parallels to a similar set of circumstances that took place in August 1997, in which NYPD officers assaulted and forcibly sodomized Abner Louima with a broken plunger handle after he was arrested.
[16] The defense submitted a video as evidence that supports the argument that Mineo had a pre-existing medical condition.