Judge dismisses charges in alleged police brutality case

A Philadelphia municipal court judge dismissed charges today against two former police officers who were accused of assaulting a graffiti artist.

David Vernitsky, 36, lost three teeth and suffered a broken jaw that had to be wired shut for five weeks.

Judge Francis Cosgrove issued his decision without comment.

At 12:30 a.m. on Aug. 26, 2007, Officers Sheldon Fitzgerald and Howard Hill III saw Vernitsky spray-painting graffiti on a wall near Fourth Street and Wyoming Avenue in Feltonville.

When Vernitsky fled, the officers caught him, beat him, and threw him head-first into their patrol car, District Attorney Lynn Abraham said in May while announcing the charges.

The five-year veterans were suspended without pay, with intent to dismiss, and were charged with aggravated assault, conspiracy, tampering with public records, and related offenses.

Calling the allegations a "fabrication," John J. McNesby, president of Lodge Five of the Fraternal Order of Police, said in May that the police union would defend its members.

Vernitsky said he was spraying a message of congratulations to newly married friends.

A September preliminary hearing was postponed when Judge Marsha H. Neifield recused herself from the case because the officers had testified before her in earlier hearings.