Investigation: Woman claims police brutality against NYPD officer

Jim Hoffer reports on a woman who claims her serious injuries came from an aggresive NYPD officer
Unlike in the Staten Island choke-hold case, there is no video in this alleged police brutality incident but there are pictures and we'll warn you, they are hard to look at.

They are pictures of injuries a woman claims she received at the hands of an out-of-control NYPD Officer .

The store window designer says she heard someone from an unmarked van yell at her friend and her for jay-walking in Greenwich Village last Friday. She yelled back. She says she had no idea she had just tossed an F-bomb at an NYPD Officer.

"I didn't even know he was an officer. There were tinted windows," said Stephanie Maldonado.

But Stephanie Maldonado says by then it was too late , she claims the officer came at her in a fit of rage.

"He grabs me and puts me in handcuffs and then with handcuffs already, I feel my arm, he just throws me on the floor." She continues, "With his knee he put all his weight on my face that's why I have all these abrasions, please you are hurting me, you are hurting me."

The injuries, Stephanie says expose the brutal force allegedly used against her handcuffed, 120 pound body.

Jim Hoffer: Did you resist arrest?

Stephanie Maldonado: "No, once I knew it was police, why would I resist arrest, where am I going to go, where am I going to run to?"

Soon after being arrested, Stephanie was taken by ambulance to Beth Israel Medical Center where doctors treated her for a fractured hand, broken teeth, and facial bruises.

It's also where officers from Internal Affairs came to visit to take pictures of her injuries and ask her questions about the arresting officer, Eric Duval of the 6th Precinct.

"Officer Duval approached me; he grabs me picks me up off the ground and slams me face-first into the ground, knocking my teeth out," said Michael Gjenvick.

Gjenvick tells a similar story after he claims he was falsely arrested a few years ago by the same NYPD Officer Eric Duval.

"I was screaming very similar comments, Why are you arresting me? What are you doing? What is going on right now? Not really getting any response other than him shoving my face into the ground," adds Gjenvick.

Pictures show a handcuffed Gjenvick bleeding from his mouth, teeth broken when slammed face first into the sidewalk.

Four months ago, without admitting any wrongdoing, the city paid Gjenvick $207,000 to settle a lawsuit against Officer Duval and two fellow officers.

"Police officers like this need to go to jail, there needs to be a course of action against them," adds Gjenvick.

Now after her encounter with Officer Duval, Stephanie Maldonado has months painful physical therapy and dental surgeries ahead. She wants the NYPD to do something before it happens to someone else.

"There's something wrong, something wrong and nobody is taking action," adds Maldonado.

We have placed several calls to Officer Duval and left messages, but so far, no response.

The NYPD says Duval remains on full duty while Internal Affairs reviews the case.

Related Topics:
news nypd investigation investigations the investigators investigators Greenwich Village New York City
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