An elderly Long Island businessman and his son were “tortured” by a Nassau County detective — who falsely arrested them on harassment charges trumped up by an ex-in-law of the son, they claim in a lawsuit.
Cary Ratner, 71, said he and son Seth Ratner were handcuffed to a iron bar with their hands above their heads for more than 10 hours while being denied food, water or legal counsel inside the Third Precinct station house in January, the Central Islip federal suit alleges.
Ratner and his son claim that they were never read Miranda rights or initially charged — and now-retired Detective Brett Nordman ordered cops to keep them locked up while forced to listen to blasting rap music.
“I was chained with my arms up in the air for hours on end,” said Cary, the president of East Hills Instruments. “I hoped that I would die there, so that someone would look into this torture.”
Cary was eventually charged with stalking Seth’s ex-mother-in-law, Linda Robinson, but the case was quickly dropped.
The suit also claims that Robinson filed baseless police reports against Seth as retribution for divorcing her daughter in 2012. Cops never found sufficient evidence against Seth.
Cary Ratner’s May 2012 suit against Robinson for harassment is still pending. The following January, Seth was arrested on charges he stalked her. Cary was also charged with stalking, for mailing her papers that served her with the lawsuit. Those arrests led to the alleged torture session.
“I am disgusted and embarrassed that someone could do this to our constitution,” Seth said, referring to the treatment he says he received.
The father and son claim they suffered physical and mental injuries as a result of their treatment and are seeking upwards of $24 million in damages.
“The [new] lawsuit is baseless,” said Mitch Shapiro, Robinson’s attorney. Nordman and Nassau police did not return calls seeking comment.