N.Y. Officer Had Bloody Gloves After Beating, Colleague Testifies

A policeman testifying in the trial of five fellow New York City officers charged in the alleged sexual torture and beating of a Haitian immigrant said Monday that the officer accused of carrying out the attack returned borrowed gloves that had been stained with blood.

Mark Schofield, who was among the officers responding to an incident at a Brooklyn nightclub in August 1997 that preceded the alleged attack on Haitian immigrant Abner Louima, also told the court he heard accused beating perpetrator Justin Volpe later say, “I broke a man down.”

Prosecutors say Volpe, aided by fellow officer Charles Schwarz, sexually assaulted Louima with a stick in a police precinct bathroom.

Five officers are charged in Brooklyn federal court with violating Louima’s civil rights. Louima accused two of the officers of beating him in a patrol car before the alleged sexual assault. A fifth, Sgt. Michael Bellomo, is charged with covering up the incident.

Louima, 32, a former security guard, required three operations to repair severe internal injuries.

Schofield testified that after the officers returned from the nightclub to the 70th precinct station, Volpe asked for a pair of gloves.

Schofield testified that when Volpe returned the gloves, “I noticed there was more blood on the gloves at that point.” DNA testing showed the blood probably came from Louima, according to court papers.

Schofield also said that before Volpe asked for the gloves, he noticed him holding a “stick-like object.”

Schofield also said that he did not know the context of Volpe’s remark of breaking a man down and that he did not hear anything more.

The case has inflamed tensions between the New York police and minority communities. The officers are white and Louima is black.