NYPD Cop Re-Enacted Finding Gun to Record It on Bodycam, DA Says

 

NEW YORK—An often-sued NYPD officer with an extensive history of misconduct allegations has been indicted on charges that he re-enacted finding a gun in a suspect’s car so he could record the discovery with his body camera.

Officer Kevin Martin, 45—the subject of 34 misconduct complaints and at least a half-dozen civil suits that cost the city more than $1 million in settlements— was indicted Wednesday and charged with tampering with evidence and official misconduct.

The charges stem from a March 1, 2019, car stop by Martin and his partner, Officer Matthew Puleo, while they were on patrol in the 109th Precinct in Queens, according to a criminal complaint. Both were given body cameras.

They pulled over a suspect’s Jeep during a traffic stop, seized the vehicle, and found drugs in the suspect’s possession—but the body cam footage showed no contraband in the car.

Puleo went back on patrol as Martin processed the arrest and at the end of the night, when his partner returned, Martin asked for help bringing in evidence from inside the Jeep.

That’s when Martin apparently found a defaced .22 caliber handgun stashed in a sneaker, the complaint said. He’d already taken off his body cam, so he went back to get it, then, as Puleo watched, he staged finding the gun again so he could have a video record, according to the complaint…. (Excerpt from the Epoch Times and the New York Daily News)