June 28, 2010
A Manhattan jury on Monday acquitted an NYPD housing cop of all charges after he was caught on tape beating an Iraq war veteran.
Officer David London, 45, was cleared of assault charges and filing false police reports.
“I’d like to thank God and my family,” the father of three said after a verdict that reduced him to tears. The cop faced up to seven years in prison.
London’s alleged victim, Walter Harvin, 30, who served a tour in Iraq and suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder, was AWOL from the trial. His mother, Cora Page, testified in his place, telling jurors her unstable son vanished about a year after the July 2008 beating.
After court, the angry mother blasted London, the jury – and the justice system.
“That is not a cop – a cop doesn’t do that,” she said of the videotaped beating.
“Sgt. Harvin – he served his country, and that is the justice he got?” fumed Page, who compared the verdict to the Queens case of Sean Bell, the unarmed groom who was shot and killed by undercover cops in 2006. The cops were acquitted by a judge in that case.
Jurors, who declined comment, seemed to agree with the defense’s claim that the dozens of baton blows London meted out were justified.
On tape, Harvin could be seen shoving London as the cop tried to arrest him for entering his mother’s W. 93rd St. building without a key.
London testified that the strikes came as Harvin kicked and swore at him – before and after he was cuffed.
Police officials said London, who is on modified duty, still faces departmental charges.