Man testifies he was beaten by two cops

TESTIFYING yesterday in a soft voice, in a courtroom partly filled with police officers, Najee Rivera said after he was pulled over by two cops, he fled on his motor scooter, but was later knocked to the ground and beaten and attacked by the two cops.

"I seen them come with their nightsticks and I got scared," Rivera, 23, testified about why he fled on his scooter after first being stopped by Officers Kevin Robinson and Sean McKnight about 9:50 p.m. May 29, 2013, at Marshall and Cambria streets, in the Fairhill section of North Philly.

After he fled, he didn't see the cop car behind him, but when he drove on 6th Street, near Lehigh Avenue, "someone came behind me and hit me behind my head," Rivera testified.

"I honestly can't tell you what I got hit with," he said, but it made him fall. And, he said, it made him fuzzy on what happened next. "I was there and not there from being beat a lot," Rivera testified.

To buttress Rivera's testimony, Assistant District Attorney Andrew Wellbrock played for Municipal Judge Teresa Carr Deni a six-minute video showing 6th Street near Lehigh Avenue.

At the end of the preliminary hearing, Deni held ex-cops McKnight, 30, and Robinson, 27, for trial on all charges, including aggravated assault, conspiracy, tampering with the public record and related offenses.

Both men are out on bail.

The video showed a dark street at night, with some trees on one side and buildings on the other.

Then, a police car and a motor scooter appear side by side. They are going the wrong way on 6th.

Rivera falls off the scooter. It was hard from the night-time video to see what exactly happened.

Then, the cops got out of their car, and appeared to grab Rivera, push him against the wall of a building, pull him to the ground, and beat him.

In the video, Rivera is heard screaming and wailing.

At first, no other cars or people appear on the street. But after a short while, cars with headlights pass by on the other side.

Rivera was arrested and charged with aggravated assault and related offenses in relation to the incident.

Asked by Wellbrock if he assaulted anyone that night, Rivera said "no." He also said he didn't have drugs or weapons on him.

He said he suffered an orbital fracture to his left eye. A photo of him right after the incident also showed his right eye swollen shut and bruised to a purple pulp.

Police Detective James Brooks, at the time assigned to the East Detective Division, testified that he interviewed Robinson and McKnight, separately, in the early hours of May 30, 2013.

The two cops said they first pulled the scooter over after seeing it run a stop sign at 7th and Cambria. After Rivera briefly stopped, he drove off.

About five minutes later, as they were surveying the area, McKnight said they saw Rivera driving east in a westbound lane of Lehigh Avenue, then going the wrong way on 6th Street.

The cops followed the scooter on 6th. McKnight said Rivera lost control and fell to the ground, then tried to run away, but that Robinson, who got out of the car, caught up to him.

Both cops said Rivera grabbed Robinson and slammed him into the brick wall of a building and then began to hit Robinson.

McKnight said he took out his collapsible baton and hit Rivera because Rivera was holding Robinson to the wall, resisting and refusing to show his hands. McKnight said Rivera tried to grab the baton.

He also said he feared Rivera had a weapon and thought Rivera was high on PCP or another drug.

Brooks, under cross-examination by McKnight's attorney, Brian McMonagle, agreed that it is proper for police, as a matter of safety, to use a baton on someone who is refusing to show his hands.

Wellbrock, in his argument before the judge, said the video showed "something coming out of" the police car window, knocking Rivera from his scooter to the ground. He said it also showed that Rivera didn't try to flee.

Of the cops' statements that Rivera slammed Robinson against a brick wall, Wellbrock said "that never happened."

For "four or five minutes, after he [Rivera] is subdued, they stand on him," the prosecutor said. "They keep him on the ground."

McMonagle, who was combative during his cross-examination of Rivera, forcibly argued that Rivera put other people at risk by fleeing from the cops. He said it was perfectly legal for McKnight to use his baton because Rivera refused to show his hands.

"They took actions necessary to subdue him," McMonagle said.

Robinson's attorney, Fortunato "Fred" Perri Jr., argued that prosecutors' only reliable evidence was a "grainy video."

He also contended this was a case of two cops upholding the law against a man who didn't comply with the cops' orders, and who tried to disarm one cop.

McKnight and Robinson, who both served in the 25th Police District, on Whitaker Avenue near Erie, in North Philly, were arrested in February, then fired.

The charges against Rivera stemming from that night were dropped by the D.A.'s Office on Aug. 1, 2013, after prosecutors viewed the video - which was obtained by Rivera's girlfriend, Dina Scannapieco, after she canvassed businesses in the area.