Kareem Davis twice was offered a deal in Syracuse City Court on Wednesday — plead guilty to a misdemeanor count of disorderly conduct and, if he stayed out of trouble, the charge would be dismissed. Twice, Davis refused. The lawyer at Davis’ arraignment told the judge that Davis was arrested Tuesday night after he stood on his front porch...
Tiffany Johnson, of Syracuse, says Syracuse police officers punched her Tuesday night several times, including when she was handcuffed and lying on the ground. Police hit her, she said, during their search for someone who may have shot a gun near East Colvin and South State streets. Next to Johnson is her boyfriend, Kareem Davis, who said he also was handcuffed and then shoved by an officer into the back of a minivan (background). Kareem Davis twice was offered a deal in Syracuse City Court on Wednesday — plead guilty to a misdemeanor count of disorderly conduct and, if he stayed out of trouble, the charge would be dismissed.
Twice, Davis refused.
The lawyer at Davis’ arraignment told the judge that Davis was arrested Tuesday night after he stood on his front porch and told police to go away and leave him alone.
City Court Judge Langston McKinney set a court date of Oct. 26 and allowed Davis to be free on his own recognizance.
Shortly afterward, Davis accused Syracuse police officers of beating his girlfriend while he watched in handcuffs in front of his 213 E. Colvin St. home.
Davis believes his family is the collateral damage from police swarming the neighborhood near East Colvin and South State streets Tuesday night in response to a reported shot being fired. That call followed an attempt by police to break up an illegal dice game and arrest the participants. An intense manhunt for the shooter followed.
“I’m going to talk to Internal Affairs. I’m going to talk to the police chief. I’m going to talk to a lawyer,” Davis said outside the courtroom after he was unchained and allowed to walk away.
Syracuse Police Chief Frank Fowler said no one had contacted his office about the matter. He said he first heard about the allegations against police Tuesday night during the manhunt from a woman who said she had recorded police beating a girl. He asked to see the video, but she said her cell phone battery was dead. He asked her to recharge it and come back to show it to him. She did not return, he said.
Wednesday afternoon, Jennifer Johnson displayed bruises on both sides of her face — where she said she was struck with fists — and scrapes to her leg that, she said, she suffered when forced to the ground.
Davis, 25, was still wearing his uniform pants and white T-shirt from his shift at a McDonald’s restaurant when he was arraigned. He had spent the night in jail.
Johnson, 22, received an appearance ticket charging her with resisting arrest and obstructing government administration.
Police broke up an illegal dice game shortly after 6 p.m. and were chasing suspects through the neighborhood when a shot was reported, police said.
The police response was prompt. A woman stuck in her home on Baker Avenue when the police shut down the neighborhood watched as heavily armed officers with riot gear showed up and automatic weapons walked the street.
“My kids had to see that,” Camisha Bacon said. “It looked like ‘Grand Theft Auto.' "
Police called off the search for the gunman until about 11 p.m.
Davis finished his shift at the Manlius McDonald’s in the afternoon and ran an errand before he went home. His house is on the north side of the street, which was the southernmost line police drew around the neighborhood.
Davis said he did not know police were investigating a shooting. His first encounter with police was when an officer asked him to get his 4-month-old pit bull under control so they could continue a search, Davis said.
Davis handed the puppy to Johnson, who was in the kitchen cooking dinner. An officer in Davis’ front yard beckoned him and Davis walked from the back yard to him, Davis said.
The officer told Davis that he wanted to ask Davis some questions, Davis said. When Davis approached, the officer put one hand on his shoulder and then pulled his arm behind him, Davis said. Then the officer handcuffed him, he said.
Davis said police told him he resembled a suspect in the dice game.
“How come I had to be the suspect?” Davis asked Wednesday.
Johnson said she saw her boyfriend handcuffed and being searched. She said she began quizzing the officers.
Doesn’t there have to be probable cause before a search? she remembers asking.
She said she was told to mind her own business.
Then Johnson saw police push Davis, she said. She said the officer she was arguing with accused Johnson of striking him. Johnson admitted pointing a finger at the officer. The officer said her finger touched the end of his nose, she said.
“I never struck an officer,” Johnson said.
The officer “told me to shut up and punched me three times while I was on the ground,” she said.
“Every time I talked about my rights, they pushed, hit and struck me,” she said.
“Why?” Johnson asked. “We were cooperating.”
Johnson said she was concerned for the couple’s 2-year-old daughter, who was in the house with the still-cooking dinner. That didn’t make a difference to police who arrested her, she said.
She found out later that her brother took care of her daughter until she was released, she said.
Fowler said police reported that force had been used and that, under department protocol, every time that happens, a superior investigates. The person upon whom force is used is interviewed, he said, any witnesses who can be found are interviewed, and the officer involved is interviewed. That’s been department policy during the 20 years he’s been with the department, he said.
That’s been done, but “this in no way closes out the matter completely,” Fowler said Wednesday evening.
He said that anyone who witnessed police abusing someone can call Internal Affairs, the city’s Citizen Review Board or his office — or even go to his office.
“I have an open-door policy.” he said. “That’s what I do.”
“What I would like,” he said, is someone to come forward with evidence “so we can conduct an investigation.”
Richard Barbosa, 17, of South State Street, said he was walking by Davis’ home when he saw the officer hitting Johnson, and he tried to intervene. He was arrested. Barbosa said officers drove him into Oakwood-Morningside Cemetery, about a block away.
Barbosa has no idea why the officers brought him there, and he feared that officers were going to harm him, he said Wednesday.
His mother walked into the cemetery to get him, Barbosa said. The police gave him an appearance ticket for a charge of disorderly conduct and released him to his mother, he said.
Contact Robert A. Baker at bbaker@syracuse.com or at 470-2182.