5 N.Y. Officers Indicted in Death of Suspect Are Back on Payroll

Five police officers accused of murdering an alleged car thief went back on the department payroll Tuesday while they await trial.

The five, who were given ID cards but no guns or badges, were suspended March 20 after being indicted on charges of murder, manslaughter, criminally negligent homicide and assault in the death of Federico Pereira while he was in custody.

An autopsy report said the 21-year-old Pereira had been beaten and choked to death and was the victim of a homicide.

Witnesses said they saw the officers beat Pereira as he lay motionless on the pavement, apparently with his hands cuffed behind his back and one of his legs bent back and cuffed to his wrist.

One of the witnesses, Ron Harmon, also said police investigators tried to intimidate him and coerced him into making a false statement that he saw Pereira struggling with the police. Harmon later recanted his statement.

The indicted policemen--Sgt. Barry Goldblatt and Officers John O’Connell, Anthony Papparella, Thomas Loefell and James McMorrow--claim that Pereira, who was found sleeping in a stolen car, was high on drugs and struggled violently during an apparent episode of cocaine psychosis, beating his head against the concrete pavement after he was handcuffed.

Lawyers for the police officers have questioned the finding of excessive force and the credibility of the witnesses, three youths with minor police records.

Police Commissioner Lee P. Brown said the officers were reinstated because under state Civil Service law the department cannot suspend officers for more than 30 days without giving them a departmental trial.

The commissioner said he had asked police investigators for a copy of the autopsy report on Pereira in an attempt to reconcile seemingly contradictory claims.

A copy of the three-page autopsy report obtained by the Associated Press noted acute “multiple blunt force injuries” on Pereira’s body that “occurred shortly before death.” It listed the cause of death as mechanical asphyxia.