Court Date Set for Officers Charged in Bronx Beating
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Two police officers are facing a Friday court date after being arrested and charged with pummeling and pistol-whipping a Bronx man while they were off duty.
The officers, Michelle Anglin, 37, and Kollen Robinson, 24, were driving through Williamsbridge in a personal car last Friday at about 5 p.m. when they pulled up to Marlon Smith, 35, according to the Internal Affairs Bureau.
They allegedly told Mr. Smith to close his car door, and he replied by saying, “What?” The two officers then are said to have yelled obscenities at him. His door may have been blocking the officers’ car, a police spokesman said yesterday.
The officers exited their vehicle, and Ms. Anglin allegedly sprayed Mr. Smith with mace. When he tried to leave his car and grab one of the officers, they began hitting him, according to the report.
The off-duty officers “repeatedly struck him about his head and body with closed fists,” the bureau’s criminal complaint charged. A witness tried to intervene, but one of the officers told the witness to back off, shouting, “We are the police.”
The officers went back to beating Mr. Smith, according to the report. Ms. Anglin hit him with her gun, and one of the officers placed a gun at his head, the report said. They left him before police could arrive in response to a 911 call, according to a department spokesman.
After Mr. Smith was rushed to a hospital, it took 25 staples to close up three lacerations in his scalp, Internal Affairs said.
He was able to provide the officers’ license plate number, which led to their arrest on Saturday, a police spokesman said.
“If these allegations prove true, it’s a horrendous case, a horrendous situation,” Commissioner Raymond Kelly told reporters yesterday.
Officers Anglin and Robinson have been stripped of their badges and now face eight criminal charges — including two for gang assault — in the criminal division of the Bronx Supreme Court.
They have been released on bail, and a representative for the court said they have a Friday court date, where further steps in the case will be discussed.
The law firm representing the officers, Worth and London, declined to comment yesterday, and neither the victim nor the officers could be reached for comment.
