The video of a brutal police beating against a person in custody has been released. The video, which is from surveillance cameras in a New York jail, shows an official viciously beating a prisoner. The beating led to a settlement of $62,500 and the resignation of the police officer involved. Lt. David Monell, the top cop for Tioga County’s jail, was the officer in the video. He reportedly said, “You’re going to regret this day.”
After making the statement, Monell threw close to six haymakers at the prisoner, David Coffey, and then tried to choke him for around 10 seconds. You can view the video in this post. In September of 2010, sheriff’s deputies claim that Coffey was pepper sprayed just prior to the start of the video because he was not cooperating with police. Officials with the corrections office chained Coffey to one of the wooden benches prior to Monell showing up in the video.
Coffey suffered injuries that included an untreated infection, a gouged eye, abrasions on his face and neck and a swollen jaw. The infection was not treated for months.
“You wouldn’t treat a dog like that,” William Friedlander, Coffey’s attorney said. Friedlander filed a lawsuit in federal court naming the sheriff’s office and Monell as the defendants on the behalf of Coffey. The lawsuit was settled in January for the sum of $62,500. Taxpayers from Tioga County are paying $50,000 of that settlement.
The day following the beating, Monell was named the ‘2010 Correction Officer of the Year’ by the New York Senate in an ironic twist. The day after the recognition was bestowed upon him, Monell resigned from his job. Charges were not filed against Monell by District Attorney Gerald Keene because he said that Monell resigning was “enough — he didn’t need to have charges brought against him.”
It is still not known why Monell beat Coffey to begin with, but he claims Coffey spit at him during the incident.
