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Wednesday, December 8, 2010

Queens woman plans to file suit after she says cops beat her because she didn't pick up dog poo





Ann Stanczyk had a Black Friday she'll never forget - the 49-year-old Queens woman says she was humiliated and beaten by two NYPD cops in a dispute over dog droppings.

Pictures taken by her son a day after the Nov. 26 incident show Stanczyk with a welt under one eye and a garish purple bruise on her breast, plus injuries to her hands and knee.

Yesterday, the Polish immigrant filed a complaint with the Civilian Complaint Review Board and plans to sue.

"I just doing it to protect other people from police brutality," Stanczyk told the Daily News. "I don't want what happened to me happen to anyone else. I want to protect the others. If it can happen to me it can happen to other people."

Stanczyk, a married housewife from Rockaway Beach, was walking her terrier, Psotka - Polish for "prankster" - when she wound up in a confrontation with two uniformed officers from the 100th Precinct, Shaun Grossweiler and Richard DeMartino.

"They saw my dog and they said I didn't clean up," said Stanczyk, fighting back tears as she spoke in halting English. "I said, 'No, she only pee.' They, of course, not agree with me and I say, 'Show me. Where is it?'"

The officers found dog feces nearby, she said.

"Pick it up," she said one cop ordered her. "I got scared. I pick up. I said, 'It's cold, not belong to my dog.' When I smiled and said I didn't do anything, that made them very upset."

At that point, Stanczyk was handcuffed and arrested. When she used her feet to try to prevent them from closing the patrol car door to secure her, she says, the beating began.

"I get scared to death," she said. "I started to scream, 'My dog! My dog!' They punch me in my face. They punch me in my breast. They punch me in my stomach."

A neighbor ran over to take Psotka and cops took Stanczyk to the precinct. She was treated for her injuries - her knee still requires physical therapy - and charged with resisting arrest and disorderly conduct.

Court papers indicate police accused Stanczyk of causing a ruckus by yelling at the officers to leave her alone. They also said she locked her hands in front of her to avoid arrest.

The case was adjourned until May, when it will be dismissed as long as she stays out of trouble.

Stanczyk had never been arrested before. She lost her job as a nurse in 2008 when she failed to attend a training program after an argument with a coworker. Her lawyer, Jon Norinsberg, said the workplace disagreement is "something that uneqivocally had nothing to do with what happened with police beating her the way they beat her."

Stanczyk said nothing she did warranted her injuries. She can't get past what happened.

"I am afraid to leave the apartment," she said. "I call my friends and beg them to go out with me. I feel better to stay home all the time."

Grossweiler, a four-year veteran, and DeMartino, a 10-year veteran, did not respond to a request for comment.

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