A second superseding indictment against five Puerto Rico Police
Department (PRPD) officers was announced today by Jocelyn Samuels,
Acting Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division; Rosa
Emilia Rodriguez-Velez, U.S. Attorney for the District of Puerto Rico;
and Carlos Cases, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI San Juan Field
Office.
According to the indictment unsealed today, PRPD Lt. Erick Rivera
Nazario, Officer David Colon Martinez and Officer Angel Torres Quinones
were indicted on civil rights charges alleging that they violated the
constitutional rights of Jose Irizarry Perez while he was celebrating
the local election results at the Las Colinas housing development in
Yauco, Puerto Rico, on Nov. 5, 2008. Rivera was also charged with
violating the civil rights of Irizarry Perez’s father, Jose Irizarry
Muniz. In addition, Rivera, Colon, Officer Miguel Negron Vazquez and
Sgt. Antonio Rodriguez Caraballo were indicted for obstruction of
justice and making false statements to the FBI and a federal grand
jury. Torres was indicted for obstruction of justice by providing
misleading information to the local prosecutor.
According to the twenty-count second superseding indictment, while Colon
held and restrained Irizarry Perez, Rivera and another PRPD officer
physically struck Irizarry Perez and assaulted him with a police baton,
which resulted in bodily injury to him. In addition, the second
superseding indictment charges Torres with striking Irizarry Perez with a
police baton, which also resulted in bodily injury to him. The second
superseding indictment alleges that Rivera, Colon and Torres thereby
deprived Irizarry Perez of his right to be free from unreasonable
seizures by those acting under color of law. Although Irizarry Perez
died as a result of injuries he sustained on Nov. 5, 2008, the second
superseding indictment does not include charges that his death resulted
from the defendants’ conduct. Rivera, who was a supervisor at the time
of the incident, was also charged with failing to keep Irizarry Perez
and his father from harm when an officer whom Rivera supervised
assaulted the victims in Rivera’s presence.
In addition, the second superseding indictment alleges that Rivera,
Colon, Negron and Rodriguez made false statements concerning the
incident to the FBI and to the federal grand jury which had been
investigating the incident. Colon and Negron were also charged with
obstruction of justice for submitting false police reports and for
providing misleading information to the Puerto Rico prosecutor that
initially investigated the matter. Rodriguez and Torres were also
charged with obstruction of justice for providing misleading information
to the Puerto Rico prosecutor, and Rivera was additionally charged with
obstruction of justice for submitting a false police report.
Each of the civil rights charges is punishable by a maximum term of ten
years in prison. Each count charging obstruction of justice is
punishable by a maximum term of twenty years in prison. Each count
charging making false statements to the FBI and perjury is punishable by
a maximum term of five years in prison. In addition, every charge in
the indictment carries a maximum fine of $250,000.
An indictment is merely an accusation, and the defendants are presumed innocent unless proven guilty.
This case is being investigated by the San Juan Division of the
FBI and is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Jose A. Contreras
from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Puerto Rico and
Senior Litigation Counsel Gerard Hogan and Trial Attorney Shan Patel
from the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice.
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