LawFuel – MICHAEL J. GARCIA, the United States Attorney for the
Southern District of New York, announced the indictment today of
Yonkers Police Department officer WAYNE SIMOES for violating the
civil rights of IRMA MARQUEZ by using excessive force against
her, resulting in bodily injury. SIMOES was arrested on June 27,
2008, on a federal criminal Complaint, and was subsequently
released on bond pending trial. According to the Indictment and
Complaint filed in White Plains federal court:
On March 3, 2007, SIMOES and several other police
officers responded to a radio call to a restaurant in Yonkers,
New York. While there, SIMOES walked over to MARQUEZ, grabbed
her around the waist from behind, lifted her into the air, and
threw her, face down, to the floor, before handcuffing her.
MARQUEZ was hospitalized and suffered a broken jaw as well as
lacerations and contusions to her face and body as a result of
SIMOES’s use of force. SIMOES’ conduct was captured on videotape
and witnessed by other officers.
The Indictment charges SIMOES with one count of
violating federal civil rights laws, which make it a crime to
willfully deprive a person of rights secured and protected by the
Constitution of the United States, in this case the right to be
free from the use of excessive force by a law enforcement officer
in the course of an arrest, stop, or seizure. If convicted,
SIMOES faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a fine
of $250,000.
SIMOES, 38, is a resident of Yonkers, New York.
Assistant United States Attorneys JASON P.W. HALPERIN,
ANNA M. SKOTKO, and BENJAMIN H. TORRANCE are in charge of the
prosecution.
The charges contained in the Indictment are merely
accusations, and the defendant is presumed innocent unless and
until proven guilty.
08-207 ###
