{"id":49498,"date":"2021-05-25T12:55:44","date_gmt":"2021-05-25T16:55:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sidebarforplaintiffs.naomifein.net\/?p=49498"},"modified":"2021-05-25T12:55:44","modified_gmt":"2021-05-25T16:55:44","slug":"a-quarter-century-before-chauvin-another-cop-was-convicted-of-murder","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sidebarforplaintiffs.naomifein.net\/?p=49498","title":{"rendered":"A quarter century before Chauvin, another cop was convicted of murder"},"content":{"rendered":"

The New York Times reported the conviction of that cop, Paolo Colecchia.<\/a><\/p>\n

I had forgotten his name. But I will never forget the name of the man he murdered: Levi Gaines.<\/p>\n

His full name was Nathaniel Levi Gaines, Jr. but he was called Levi. Although I never met him, his life affected my<\/em> life profoundly.<\/p>\n

Levi was killed on July 4, 1996. He’d come in to New York from Yonkers for the Fourth, to see the fireworks. He was waiting on a subway platform for the train which would take him toward home when Colecchia shot him in the back.<\/p>\n

The crime was so awful not even Rudy Giuliani supported Colecchia in his characteristic repulsive way, by attacking the victim<\/a>. And the Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association provided one of their on-retainer lawyers to defend Colecchia, but declined to pay his fee.<\/p>\n

In New York, a criminal defendant has the option of waiving a jury trial for a judge trial. Cops often take this option; easy to understand if you imagine a cop on trial in front of a jury consisting of local citizens. Cops often decide their chances of acquittal are better with a judge.<\/p>\n

Colecchia took that option; the judge found him guilty. Colecchia went to prison, for a sickeningly short time.<\/p>\n

After such a wrongful death…I had to freeze just then because “wrongful death” is so fucking pale…when a uniformed, armed employee of a big municipal agency kills someone, a case subsequent to the criminal case and trial should ensue. So it was that Levi’s mother, the redoubtable Edith Gaines, an operating room nurse, brought a lawsuit against the City of New York, the NYPD and probably Colecchia individually (I don’t remember if she did, just as I didn’t remember the cop’s name).<\/p>\n

In the course of discovery when both sides demand documents to reinforce their cases, a number of civilian complaints against Colecchia turned up. Depressing how many complaints of brutality — especially racist ones — can land in a cop’s record without any adverse consequences to his career.<\/p>\n

But the more chilling evidence of Colecchia’s bad character was produced in a deposition of a Police Department psychologist.<\/p>\n

In one of those coincidences that seem to occur the older we get — when almost everyone we meet has a connection to someone we know — I had a sort of vague link to this psychologist. My sister-in-law was acquainted with her.<\/p>\n

I’d never met her before. When she came into the office for the deposition, I noticed she seemed nervous and a bit defensive. Understandably: in tests she’d given him and interviews she’d had with Colecchia before he’d killed Levi, he had himself admitted to being a racist.<\/p>\n

Why on the earth that is New York City was Colecchia, admittedly a racist, still a cop?<\/p>\n

Again, here’s what Melissa, my family member and clinical psychologist, wrote about the position of PD psychologists:<\/p>\n

Many moons ago I applied and was offered a job at the police department to assess cops. I turned the job down because I realized during the interview process that they were not actually wanting a valid, discriminating or truthful evaluation. They wanted most people to pass and I would probably be fired pretty quickly if I didn\u2019t give them what they wanted.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

***<\/p>\n

The other day, the New York Times published an editorial about how cops are protected from being criminally charged for acts of brutality by a doctrine called qualified immunity.<\/a> The Times believes this doctrine should be modified, at the least.<\/p>\n

One sentence in the editorial rang a loud bell for me:<\/p>\n

Qualified immunity arose out of an 1871 civil rights law<\/a> that made government officials, including police officers, financially liable for violating a person\u2019s constitutional rights.<\/em><\/p>\n

That law was a response to the mass killings of Blacks by government officials, often wearing white hoods, during the Reconstruction Era. You might find it euphemistic to realize that among a person’s constitutional and civil rights is the right not to be murdered. The right to life.<\/p>\n

***<\/p>\n

Mrs. Gaines came to the office to give us some personal papers about Levi — Navy documents, probably his birth certificate. Since she’d brought only the originals, I took them into the copy room, placed them one by one on our big Xerox.<\/p>\n

I came to a 3×5 black and white photo of Levi, standing on a grassy rise. His arms stretched out in a consciously goofy sort of pose, embracing the universe. He was smiling big. The most beautiful charming smile, on a beautiful face of a fully alive young man. So alive.<\/p>\n

My eyes filled. My blinking did not stop the tears.<\/p>\n

I remember monetary settlements for a lot of the cases I was around, back then. I remember nothing of the City’s eventual reckoning to Edith Gaines. Mostly I remember Levi.<\/p>\n

The rage of emotion I had in our copy room flares up every time I hear about a cop killing a Black human being for no actual reason whatsoever. And given that cops carry guns and wear bullet-proof clothing, I don’t accept any<\/em> rationale for cops killing anyone. <\/em><\/p>\n

Took me weeks to write this.<\/p>\n

I don’t cry anymore; the tears have become fury. Helpless<\/em> fury because I can’t do anything<\/em> to stop it. All I can do is write about it. And remember Edith Gaines and her gorgeous son.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The New York Times reported the conviction of that cop, Paolo Colecchia. I had forgotten his name. But I will never forget the name of the man he murdered: Levi Gaines. His full name was Nathaniel Levi Gaines, Jr. but … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6737,337,6736,6424,5800,1175],"tags":[5805,5690,7253,7252,7251,6097,5727,7250],"class_list":["post-49498","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-judiciary","category-legal-news","category-lawyers","category-police-violence","category-racism","category-the-facts-of-life","tag-derek-chauvin","tag-george-floyd","tag-nathaniel-levi-gaines-jr","tag-nypd-psychogists","tag-paolo-colecchia","tag-police-shootings","tag-police-violence","tag-racism-in-nypd"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t