It could happen to you as it happened to my Husband and 2 of my sons.  On March 4th Officer Antione (badge #23618 and Srg BRACERO Badge# 59) of the 113th precinct arrested my husband and threw him in Jail .  He spent 3 days in jail for NO REASON and was violated on many levels.  This was the 6th time in 2 years he was pulled over and harrassed just for driving a nice truck!  The 103rd and 113th precincts are out of control policing our streets like an infestation spreading and killing every law abiding citizen.  My husband has a nice black truck with moderate tint and nice chromed rims.  He is a Teamster and a truck driver that lawfully pays taxes and is a good citizen.  He is a wonderful father to our 4 children and has no record. 

He went to the store to bring drink home around 10pm that night and drove down Farmers BLVD to go home.  As he passed officer Antoine and srgt. Bravero he observed  they had another man pulled over and was frisking him.  My husband had his windows down and made eye contact with them as he drove by.  He was driving 10-15 miles per hour.  2 blocks later he looked in his rear view mirror to see the unmarked car flashing lights and he thought nothing of it because he wasn't doing anything wrong.  He stopped at every light for a 12 block radius or so and realized they were following him but he kept moving doing 8 - 10 miles per hr on to our block and pulled into our drive way. 

When he exited the vehicle he was met by officer Antoine AT GUN POINT WITH A FLASHLIGHT IN HIS FACE.  He was cursing and screaming at my husband and my husband asked him to calm down and talk to him asking the officer what was wrong.  Officer Antoine realized he was out of control and said "you're right I don't know why I'm yelling" at the same time SRG BRACERO approached my husband in our driveway and whipped out the baton cursing and threatening my husband to place his hands on the truck.  They cuffed my husband for no reason and my husband kept asking what's wrong, what did I do.  I ran out the house in my night gown in shock and the first words I heard my husband saying in a low vioce were "officer I am talking to you like a gentleman, can we please talk? Why do you have me handcuffed?? My husband then told me "they are trying to arrest me!"  I kept screaming what's the charge - the officers ignored me.  They put the cuffs on too tight and hurt my husbands wrists.  The neighbors all came out and told the cops to leave him alone and that he is a good man.  Srg BRACERO called for back up and 3 more cars came. 

2 unmarked cars with 5 cops in each got out.  All Caucasian cops in plain clothes and forced my husband into a 3rd unmarked car.  I didn't know what to do I was overcome by grief and my children witnessed this.  Then Sargent BRACERO ran back into my driveway after taking my husbands keys out of his pocket while he was already in the police car- jumped into our truck and told me "I'M TAKING THE TRUCK TOO!".  He backed it out of our driveway and drove it to the 113th precinct.  My neighboor drove me to the precinct and they had my husband standing, still cuffed, in the main desk area surrounded my 4-5 officers.  He never resisted arrest and never yelled and cursed at the officers. 

I was then told by officer Antoine that the charge was DISORDERLY CONDUCT.  My neighboor said thats a lie! I couldn't believe it.  They put my husband in a cell in the back and began to search the truck outside with a fine toothe comb.  They wouldn't give me my husbands blackberry and the even took that apart looking for I don't know what!  They emptied out his truck of every paper and cd.  During this time another officer in the 113th precinct saw my husband had his teamsters jacket on and struck up a conversation.  They spoke politely and then my husband heard the officer yell: "WHO THE HELL ARRESTED THIS GUY FOR RECKLESS DRIVING??"  So now they changed the charge to Reckless driving on paper.   My husband questioned the arresting officer Antoine about this new charge and he responded "I don't know what to tell you buddy" walking away.

They held my husband their until 4am and then took him to central booking.  I was told to go to Queens Criminal Court for my husbands arraignment the next day.  I brought my husbands cousin who is a civil lawyer with me and when we got to central booking they denied him access to my husband because he didn't have a pass to get passed security at the building.  So my husband was DENIED COUNSEL that whole day and his fingerprints never made it from the 113th prescinct to central booking that day.  My husband called me several times to say he hadn't even seen a legal aid.  We stayed all day until night court and at  12:15am he still hadn't even been entered into the system yet!

We came back the next day and he still had not been assigned legal aid.  All morning passed and his name had finally hit the list and he was being held in a holding cell in the court house now.  They refused to let our lawyer speak to him so our lawyer spoke to the legal aid and told her what happened.  She said that my husband was kept in there because they held his paperwork up.  All the other people that were placed in central booking with my husband had seen the judge the next day and went home. When I spoke to the legal aid and told her what the charge was she said "That's not the charge on file, It's FLEEING AN OFFICER WITH AN IN-OPERABLE DEVICE".  What!!! The police officers new that my husband had a commercial license and worked as a truck driver so they changed the charge with hopes that he would get points taken off on his license and this charge would give them a reason to have taken and searched his vehicle.

Ofcourse My husband plead NOT-Guilty and we have retained a lawyer.  The day he was released we immediately went to the 113th precinct to get his belongings and pick up his truck.  He had received a voucher for his belongings and was told by the arresting srgt BRACERO that he would not release his truck (despite my husbands wishes) to our son or myself but only to my husband and that when he was released he should come back with the voucher and pick it up. 

Of course this was not the case and when we got to the precinct the arresting officer Antoine sat my husband down in a room with his belongings.  My husband realized that items were missing from the list. They wanted him to sign for the 3 large bags of items but my husband asked him very politely if they would write down whats missing and then he would sign for his belongings.  They refused and said "LOOK IF YOU DON'T WANT YOUR STUFF WE WILL TAKE IT BACK".  After an hour of trying to get another Desk Srgt to help us another undercover cop came out to help us with my husbands' belongings. 

He said "Look no one is going to help you here, I'm trying to do you a favor, just sign for what's here and take it to court to dispute the missing items".  During this time the arresting srgnt BRACERO came in and had written up a new voucher stipulating that the truck was now ARRESTED EVIDENCE and told my husband he couldn't have the truck until this case was resolved!  He lied and manipulated the situation to annoy my husband once again.  So our lawyer had to find a DA to make the precinct release his vehicle.  My husband just got it back last night and they had held his house keys along with the vehicle that week.  There will be a civil case here!!!! 

On Sunday at 3:06pm a NYPD police car pulled up in front of my house, stopped, an officer pointed at my house and then they drove off.  I don't know what that was about but If something happens to me or my children I have documented this.  Yesterday, Thursday evening -3/11/10 my neighboor told me a car pulled up near my house and began video taping my property.  This is the same neighboor who witnessed my husbands arrest.  These police officers are harrassing our family now!  WHO WILL PROTECT US FROM THE POLICE WHO ARE SWORN TO PROTECT AND SERVE THE AMERICAN PEOPLE!!!!!

We have now made our 3rd Civil Complaint. 2 other Civil Complaints are already on file with regard to several other incidents including the incident when my 21 year old son was driving THE SAME truck  (my husbands' truck) and was stopped one block from our house as he returned from the supermarket.  He is a wonderful child - NEVER had a problem with the law and everyone loves him.  2 officers -plain clothed- stopped him, made him get out the truck for NO REASON, made him pulled down his sweat pants and frisked him and STUCK THERE HANDS IN HIS UNDERWEAR TOUCHING HIS PRIVATE PARTS, made him take his boots off and STAND IN THE ICE AND SNOW WHILE THEY SEARCHED THE VEHICLE asking him who's truck is this and how can your daddy afford a truck like this!!!!

MY SON WAS SCARRED FOR LIFE BY THIS EXPERIENCE AND CAME HOME SCREAMING AND CRYING AT OUR DOOR.  MY HUSBAND WAS SO ANGRY AND OVERCOME BY GRIEF THAT HE CRIED ON THE PHONE WHEN MY SON TOLD HIM WHAT HAD HAPPENED.  We filed a civil complaint but my son was so overwelmed he didn't get there badge numbers.  The 103rd precinct said those cops were'nt theirs and that the individuals were impersonating police officers.  THATS WHY MY HUSBAND DIDN'T STOP LAST WEEK UNTIL HE GOT TO HIS DRIVEWAY BECAUSE HE KNEW WHAT COULD HAPPEN TO HIM AND HE WANTED WITNESSESS.  He knew he had done nothing wrong.

We teach our children to be pro-police but all our experience has been that If daddy goes to the supermarket he may not come home.  He might be arrested or violated so we pray for protection.  I'M SORRY BUT WE ARE TAX PAYING CITIZENS WHO PAY FOR POLICE OFFICERS' SALARIES AND WE ARE BEING VIOLATED with NO PROTECTION!! THIS MUST END NOW!