Decades after two minority cops claim they were victims of a brutal racist assault by white NYPD detectives, they’ll face one of their attackers in court today.
Off-duty officers Scott Thompson, 53, and Antonio Echevestre, 53, were outside an Inwood restaurant in November 1991 after a fundraiser for a fellow cop’s sick child.
Thompson, an officer in the 42 precinct, was at first chatting with a detective named Kevin Tracy when the detective socked Thompson for badmouthing a friend, according to a civil lawsuit filed against the city in 1992.
Tracy is expected to testify this afternoon after opening statements in the week-long trial.
The restaurant closed and the fracas continued in the street with Tracy knocking Thompson, who is black, to the ground.
When Thompson’s Hispanic partner, Echevestre, tried to intervene, a responding officer from the 34 Precinct, Antonio Tetro, allegedly called him a “spic” and a fellow off-duty detective named Patrick Brosnan threw Echevestre against a car.
Brosnan, who was a volunteer security guard for mayoral candidate Rudolph Giuliani at the time, according to a 2006 deposition, called Thompson “a boy” before fleeing the scene and failing to report the incident to a supervisor.
Echevestre has permanent neurological damage from the attack, his suit claims, as well as partial hearing loss. Thompson sustained more minor injuries.
Echevestre was arrested, though none of the white officers involved were cuffed. The DA declined to press charges, referring the matter to the NYPD for internal review.
Only one of the white cops was disciplined with docked vacation days. None were tossed for the incident.
Echevestre left the force in 2000 after 16 years on the job and Thompson departed in 2001, after a 20-year career. They were disillusioned with the department, their attorney, Bonita Zelman, told the Post.
Echevestre was later charged by an ex-girlfriend, who also filed a criminal complaint in 2008, for molesting her daughters. The charges were dropped.
A spokeswoman for the city law department declined to comment because of the pending trial.
A combination of jurisdictional issues, delays related to the discovery process and appeals led to the 20-year period between when the case was originally filed and the ultimate trial.