Two NYPD detectives, 31-year-old Angelo Pampena and 29-year-old Robert Carbone, have been indicted on assault charges after allegedly beating a U.S. postal worker on Oct. 21, 2015.
Court documents allege the detectives—who have been suspended without pay—approached the uniformed postal worker, 26-year-old Karim Baker, just after he entered his personal car in Queens. While in the driver’s seat, the detectives allegedly punched and kicked Baker in the face and torso, and then dragged him onto the sidewalk, causing serious injuries.
Pampena originally filed a complaint that said Baker parked in front of a fire hydrant, but video evidence determined his car was more than the necessary 15-foot distance—which means Pampena allegedly committed an act of perjury.
In the court documents, Baker alleges he was beaten up by the officers because in December 2014 he unknowingly gave directions to a gunman who soon thereafter killed NYPD detectives, Rafael Ramos and Wenjian Liu.
Two NYPD officers indicted for assault of uniformed U.S. Postal Worker: https://t.co/FmQ74e5jm7 pic.twitter.com/XgdT0PQvST
— Keegan Stephan (@KeeganNYC) April 20, 2016
Soon after directing the gunman, Baker was questioned by police of his interaction, but nothing ever became of it. Then, within the following nine months, his attorney says he then was “pulled over by the police for various minor traffic infractions approximately 20 times,” claiming he was being “systemically harassed.”
Baker told Eyewitness News in November of 2015:
“I know my life is not the same right now. It’s not, the way I want it to be, how I feel it should be. I was being harassed, like cops outside by door and my family members’ doors, friends’ doors, just everybody. I felt just some type of way.”
Pampena, a 9-year veteran of the force, and Carbone, an 8-year veteran are both being charged with second- and third-degree assault, while Pampena faces additional charges of second-degree perjury, first-degree offering a false instrument of filing, and official misconduct. If convicted, each face up to 7 years behind bars.
