First- is it settled that his time at rikers was unwarranted? It says the counts "included" assaulting a police officer, but I assume there were other criminal charges against him independent of this incident.
Second- I think the video looks worse than it is. If he was really pounding him that hard in the face, I'd expect at least a bloody nose. I'm not able to see any damage to his face at all in the face shot of him @4:30.
First - They dropped all charges. These were completely false claims.
The cops basically lied about this innocent person that they found sleeping in private property. He had permission to be there.
(The outside watchperson called police, but there was no reason for police to be called to begin with.)
Second - He was beaten for 4 - 5 minutes straight. He was surrounded by more than 10 cops. He was painfully yanked into a standing position from laying face down on the cold floor his hands already handcuffed behind his back. Uneccesary roughness. He had already been beaten, subdued, and cuffed.
They were not following police protocol from the beginning and they were aggressively taking out their anger on him throughout.
Had his skin been of a different color, then the white cops/NY taxpayers would have been charged $1 million dollars.
He was a random white Jew in the middle of the night who was falsely accused of assualting a police officer.
In addition to the FOUR days that he spent in Rikers, he would have faced a 7 year prison sentence. It would be his word against theirs. B"H for the video camera. GO Aliyah! (If the lawyer gets 30% and Aliyah can get $20K as a thank you for the camera, then all he's left with is $50K. IMO:
1) He should get at least 10 X that.
2) The cops should all pay $50,000 each to contribute to his settlement.