Ex-Officer Gets 30 Years in N.Y. Police Torture Case

A white former police officer was sentenced to 30 years in prison Monday for torturing a Haitian immigrant with a broken broomstick in one of the most shocking acts of police brutality New York has ever seen.

Justin Volpe, 27, who pleaded guilty to violating the victim’s civil rights, could have gotten life without parole for the 1997 attack.

“I hurt many people. I was and still am ashamed. . . . I am extremely sorry,” Volpe told U.S. District Judge Eugene Nickerson. “I must and I will pay for my crime.”

There is no parole in the federal system, but Volpe may earn time off for good behavior. He also was ordered to pay Abner Louima $277,495 in restitution.

Volpe rammed a broomstick into Louima’s rectum in a police station bathroom after arresting Louima. Police said Volpe mistakenly thought Louima had punched him from behind during a melee outside a Brooklyn nightclub.

Louima, who addressed the court during the sentencing, did not ask the judge for any specific punishment.

“I suffered three operations to repair my bladder, colon and intestines. I spent over 2 1/2 months in the hospital,” Louima said. “Sometimes I ask God, ‘Why me?’ and why he let me live. But when I look at my family, my kids, my wife and all my friends and supporters, that gives me courage.”

The case strained relations between the Police Department and minority groups and set off demonstrations against police brutality. Louima has also filed a multimillion-dollar lawsuit alleging police were shielded by a “blue wall of silence.”

Louima, a 30-year-old security guard, said that Volpe, Charles Schwarz and two other police officers took turns beating him in a police car after his arrest in the nightclub disturbance. Prosecutors failed to prove those charges at a trial earlier this year.

The jury convicted Schwarz in June of violating Louima’s civil rights. He is awaiting sentencing and could get life in prison.