New York: Man suing city, police over alleged gaybashing

BY NATASHA BARSOTTI — The New York Post reports that a Brooklyn man is filing suit against the city and nine NYPD officers for allegedly beating him and targeting him with homophobic slurs as they responded to a reported noise complaint over a Pride party at his home.

Jabbar Campbell, a 32-year-old forensics investigator told both the Post and New York Daily News that police allegedly left him with a bloodied mouth, split lip and a swollen eye and yelled “fucking faggot” and “homo” at him.

Campbell also told both news sources that police interfered with a surveillance camera at the building. He produced video footage that appears to show officers looking at the camera, with one of them eventually reaching up to turn its focus away from them. Campbell says that “scared” him.

The police banged on Campbell’s door with batons and flashlights, and when he opened it, one yelled, “Get him” and allegedly attacked him, according to the Post. The Daily News says Campbell let them in after 10 minutes.

They said, ‘Stop resisting arrest.’ I said, ‘I am not resisting,’” Campbell told both news sources.

“I blacked out. I was concerned for my life,” Campbell said. His lawyer says police are guilty of a “hate crime,” according to the Post.

A police filing says Campbell ignored their demands to stop the party, pushed one of the officers and behaved “belligerently.” Campbell was eventually charged with resisting arrest, attempted assault and pot possession. “I was an innocent person in my home that night,” he told the Post. “What scares me most is that the NYPD are the people you call on to help you. I’m scared now.”

Landing image: New York Daily News

Natasha Barsotti is originally from Trinidad and Tobago in the Caribbean. She had high aspirations of representing her country in Olympic Games sprint events, but after a while the firing of the starting gun proved too much for her nerves. So she went off to university instead. Her first professional love has always been journalism. After pursuing a Master of Journalism at UBC , she began freelancing at Xtra West — now Xtra Vancouver — in 2006, becoming a full-time reporter there in 2008.

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