College Bound Teen In A Coma After NYPD Beats Him Down
A Brooklyn teen who was about to start college spent four days in a coma after he was slammed to the ground by cops in a post-barbecue beatdown, his mother and lawyer say.
Rahiym Holmes, 18, suffered a fractured skull and brain damage in the July 11 incident.
He cannot walk without help and may never fully recover, said his lawyer, Leslie Kelmachter, who will file a notice of claim against the NYPD today. “We want there to be a full and thorough investigation,” Kelmachter said. “We believe there should be criminal charges.
“There was no evidence that Rahiym was doing anything wrong when he was tackled.”
The NYPD said Internal Affairs is investigating the incident.
Police would not say why Holmes was stopped or why he was issued a desk appearance ticket for misdemeanor reckless endangerment.
His mom, 37-year-old Channell Barber, said it pains her to see her son, a high school football player who was about to start classes at Kingsborough Community College.
And it is just as frustrating to explain the incident to her 11-year-old son, Donte, she said.
“I always stressed to them to keep a clean record, stay in school and do good,” said Barber, who works for Con Edison. “For something like this to happen, it’s very, very difficult.”
The circumstances around the injury are still murky. His family said Holmes was not able to speak about the incident and did not remember what happened.
That night, Holmes was at a barbecue at the Canarsie Pier when police arrived about sunset to disperse the crowd.
Holmes and two friends set out to walk the mile back to East New York, where they live.
Witnesses told Kelmachter that at some point, uniformed officers taunted Holmes, then got out of their patrol car on Cozine Ave., near Pennsylvania Ave.
Holmes put his hands up, Kelmachter said, to no avail.
“The officer – and we don’t know why he zoomed in on Rahiym – he basically body-slammed him,” she said. “He struck his head on the ground and was vomiting and bleeding at the scene.”
It is unclear why Holmes was given the ticket, which was handed to his mom at the hospital. Holmes spent four days in a coma and has since been transferred to Kingsbrook Jewish Medical Center. The notice of claim accuses police of excessive force, assault, false arrest and false imprisonment.
July 28, 2010 - 5:02 PM
We gotta take up arms and do to the pigs what they do to us. If they start to fear just living and walking everyday we level the playing field.
July 28, 2010 - 5:16 PM
we gotta get back to that black panther type shit, these fuckin pigs be doin our people so fuckin filthy!!!!!! just cause we live in urban areas does not mean that we are all slum ass criminals! cops hoped out on me the other night…tryin to fuck around..but im 6′4 320lbs..niggas aint want to tackle me!! and i know the law and my rights! fuckin bitch ass niggas witt badges! they can all eat a dick..especially them fagg ass niggas who think they above the law cause they run witt it. dick suckin ass bitches. ol boy was going to be someone..and they fucked his whole life up..shit really urks me man..
July 28, 2010 - 5:59 PM
GTer i feel you my dude. i hate the pigs with a passion. Niggas have to ride together tho. it cant be one nigga trying to protect the whole hood from these pigs. The elderly people who retired and have clean record should form an orginization that come on the seen to verify if the pig have a legitimate reason to arrest when they aprehend someone and make sure the pigs is not using brutal force.
July 28, 2010 - 6:35 PM
this is 2010. fuck out of here with that revolutionary shit. all the fighting the freedom fighters of the 60’s and 70’s did for us and nothing changed. what we got now FREE LUNCH PROGRAMS. Just like the Cointelpro broke up the Panthers,Weathermen and any other radical group back then. The NYPD will break up any new shit. People dont believe in nothing no more but themselves. So,how they gonna fight for something?