NYPD officer acquitted of assaulting unarmed man

By JENNIFER PELTZ
Mail.com
Jun. 29, 2010

A police officer seen on videotape repeatedly hitting an unarmed, handcuffed Iraq war veteran with a baton -- and accused of lying to cover it up -- was acquitted Monday of all charges.

Officer David London sobbed after jurors delivered the verdict, while relatives of the Army veteran he hit bolted from the courtroom enraged.

"I'd like to thank God and my family," the soft-spoken London, 45, said after he left the Manhattan courtroom and hugged supporters with tears rolling down his cheeks. He had said he used necessary force to subdue Walter Harvin and never meant to misrepresent what happened during their July 2008 clash.

London's trial was the second in as many months that offered video to rebut a police officer's account of a confrontation with a citizen. In both cases, defense lawyers suggested the videos didn't provide a full view of the provocation and danger the officers faced.

Harvin's family -- his own whereabouts are unknown -- blasted London's acquittal on assault and false-statement charges as police brutality and misconduct going unchecked.

"They can do whatever they want and walk away," said Harvin's mother, Cora Page. She said her son had returned from Iraq in about 2005, suffering from post-traumatic stress syndrome that deepened after his encounter with London.

"He served this country, and this is the justice he gets?" she asked.

Continued