A grand jury has voted to indict a police officer accused of sodomizing a suspect with an expandable baton during an arrest in a Brooklyn subway station, sources said today.
Sources said Richard Kern, 25, would be charged with assault or aggravated sexual assault when the indictment is unsealed Tuesday.
Two other cops involved in the alleged assault on Michael Mineo, 24, will face misconduct charges, according to one source.
The Brooklyn DA’s Office declined to comment, and Kern could not be reached for comment.
Mineo hailed the grand jury’s decision.
“Now they do believe me,” he said at the Downtown Brooklyn tattoo parlor where he works. “I’m happy for the way this is moving along.”
Mineo also thanked a transit cop who witnessed the alleged assault and corroborated his account.
“He’s a good dude,” Mineo said. “I appreciate it. Without him, I would still be in limbo.”
Mineo said he bolted into the subway station on Oct. 15 upon realizing that Kern and three other cops had just spotted him smoking a joint.
He said the cops caught up with him and forced him to the ground and one rammed something up his rectum.
He was hospitalized suffering from rectal tearing.
The transit officer testified that he saw Kern run a collapsible metal baton across Mineo’s buttocks.