Prosecutors Delaying Charges For Cop Who Tasered Pregnant Bronx Teen

Dailene Rosario,17, shows where she was Tasered by police.

Prosecutors seem to be dragging their feet on charges for the cop who used a stun gun on a pregnant Bronx teen last February, her lawyer said Monday.

“This incident happened almost a year ago and the video clearly shows that the actions of this police officer were unnecessary,” Scott Rynecki, the lawyer for Tasered teen Dailene Rosario and her mom Agnes Caprio, told the Daily News.

“I don’t understand why it hasn’t been put in front of a grand jury,” the frustrated lawyer said.

Rynecki spoke out after the Bronx District Attorney’s Office waded into the civil dispute by suggesting the court should stop the clock on the lawsuit until prosecutors wrap up their investigation and possible prosecution.

Rosario is suing the city, NYPD Sgt. Robert Durst, Officer Taralena Gerrato and other unidentified cops for falsely arresting and zapping her with a Taser during the incident on Feb. 10 in the hallway of her Wakefield building.

The then 17-year-old was almost four months pregnant when she was zapped twice in her stomach during a scuffle between the officers and her brothers.

Rosario was Tasered by Sgt. Durst, according to the lawsuit filed on August 30.

The commotion was captured on cell phone video in which Rosario is heard screaming, “Get off of me, get off of me! I’m pregnant! I’m pregnant!”

“The video clearly established that the police officer unnecessarily used a Taser on a pregnant woman, therefore I can’t imagine a reason why it has taken this long for the Bronx District Attorney’s Office to make a decision to move forward with criminal charges against the officer,” Rynecki told The News.

Rosario was charged with resisting arrest, disorderly conduct and harassment. The charges were dropped in April and Bronx prosecutors said they were conducting a full investigation.

“If the civil lawsuit is permitted to proceed, it could lead to depositions or interrogatories of individuals who might become witnesses in a criminal proceeding that may arise from this office’s investigation,” Assistant District Attorney Felicia Yancey wrote in a Jan. 19 letter to Annette Lalic, an attorney with the city’s corporal counsel.

Lalic, in turn, filed a motion on Jan. 24 with the judge asking to stay any actions filed by the plaintiffs until the district attorney’s office and the NYPD completes their investigations.

Source: http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/charges-delayed-tasered-pregnant-bronx-teen-lawyer-article-1.3786553