A young man who worked as a security guard hailed a gypsy cab by the 174th Street elevated train station of the 2 and 5 lines to drive him to his girlfriend’s house, sat in the backseat talking with her on Face-time on the way. 

Then, as summarized on February 6 in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York, the cab was pulled over on Boston Road by an unmarked New York Police Department car which turned its siren lights on.

The young man, James Hurt Jr., was told to end the phone call and get out of the car. He did, but then he says he got pushed by one officer and then got punched in the face three times by NYPD Sargeant Michael Connizzio. 

  On February 6 Connizzio’s lawyer in the SDNY courtroom of Judge P. Kevin Castel(who praised both teams of lawyers) denied it was him, saying his only mistake was not signing himself off duty that night.

Earlier they’d argued that the presence of plaintiff’s lawyer Wylie Stecklow at the hospital in Yonkers was somehow suspicious.

But in rebuttal Hurt Jr’s other lawyer Cary London told the jury, I’ve kept something juicy for you.

The 44th precinct where Connizzio worked ran two warrant searches for James Hurt Jr. the day after the incident.

How did they know his name?

His I.D. had been in the gym bag he left in the back of the gypsy cab, that Connizzio had searched.

Was that the checkmate……