Nassau DA: Charges against man accused of assaulting Freeport Village police officers dropped

The Nassau district attorney has dropped assault and resisting arrest charges against Akbar Rogers, the man who said he was a victim of police brutality in his arrest by Freeport Village police officers in December.

News 12 Staff

Jul 7, 2020, 7:13 PM

Updated 1,555 days ago

Share:

The Nassau district attorney has dropped assault and resisting arrest charges against Akbar Rogers, the man who said he was a victim of police brutality in his arrest by Freeport Village police officers in December.
Nassau DA Madeline Singas' office said in a statement, "Today we are moving to dismiss, in the interest of justice, the charges pending against Akbar Rogers stemming from the Dec. 3, 2019 arrest. While an independent expert found the level of force used to be justified by law and policy, Mr. Rogers did not attempt to harm the police and the officer's injury that formed the basis of the second-degree assault charge was not intentional."
In the video, officers are seen pulling Rogers over a fence, then punching, kicking and using a Taser on him as they were trying to arrest him for alleged harassment and traffic violations. Rogers' arrest has been the subject of multiple protests.
Following the incident, Rogers was charged with assaulting the officers.
MORE:
The statement from Singas continues to say "When I reviewed video of the Dec. 3, 2019 arrest of Akbar Rogers by the Freeport Police Department, I was deeply troubled by what I saw and heard and directed my Public Corruption Bureau to begin an immediate investigation into the use of force used by the Freeport Police officers."
The statement also says that "the abusive language depicted in video of the incident, with an officer responding to Mr. Rogers' assertion that he could not breathe with "f-- you," and calling him a "piece of s---" is reprehensible and warrants discipline."
Rogers says he was almost speechless minutes after a virtual court hearing Tuesday afternoon in which Singas dropped the assault and resisting arrest charges against him.
"I'm so happy, I'm like trembling still, like a state of shock still," he says. "I'm elated right now, I'm so happy this came to an end right now, with the dismissal."
Rogers' attorneys are calling for an investigation into the police officers involved. The officers are not being charged, but the DA's office says cases like this one have made it clear that techniques used by police "must be examined ... to minimize harm and to build public trust."
Nia Adams, a community organizer for the Long Island Progressive Coalition says, "It shouldn’t have taken six months and a grassroots organizing effort to get these charges dropped. The fact Akbar was ever charged in the first place, even though we had video of him being assaulted by those Freeport officers, shows as clear as day the racism and injustice within our so-called justice system."
William Petrillo, attorney for the Freeport police officers says, "In this particular case, multiple use of force experts looked closely at everything and all reached the same conclusion that in fact, any force used was reasonable and necessary. And the officers involved care deeply for the community they serve, they are proud to serve the Freeport community."
Police will continue to prosecute Rogers for alleged harassment in an October 2019 incident, stemming from an incident in which he allegedly repeatedly pushed a pregnant woman to the ground.