Opinion ID: 783516
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Trial Testimony on the Events of December 27, 1998

Text: 6 The parties offer very different accounts of the events at the Union Inn Bar and subsequently at the police station. 2 The following summarizes the evidence adduced by the parties at the two trials concerning the individual officers' liabilities.
7 The DiSorbo sisters present themselves as innocent victims of out-of-control police officers who resorted to deplorable acts of brutality to punish them for rebuking personal advances. Shortly after midnight during the early morning hours of December 27, 1998, Rebecca DiSorbo, Jessica DiSorbo, and another woman went to the Union Inn Bar, where they participated in typical bar behavior, including drinking, playing pool, and socializing with friends. Sometime between 1:00 a.m. and 2:00 a.m., according to Rebecca DiSorbo, Pedersen approached her and made personal advances by asking, So where's your boyfriend?, 3 to which she answered that her boyfriend was in Tennessee. When Pedersen inquired further about her boyfriend, Rebecca DiSorbo said he was a police officer, hoping this would discourage Pedersen. Pedersen then purportedly boasted that he too had a badge, but Rebecca DiSorbo told him that she was unimpressed and walked away. Rebecca DiSorbo resumed playing pool, had a drink with a friend, and danced for a little while. Pedersen soon approached her again, this time demanding to see her identification. Rebecca DiSorbo maintains that even though she willingly complied with Pedersen's request for identification, he aggressively grabbed her right arm, twisted it behind her back, and forced her out the door. 8 Once outside the bar, Rebecca DiSorbo was handcuffed and placed in a police vehicle Pedersen had summoned. Jessica DiSorbo left the bar after a friend informed her of what was happening to her sister. Jessica DiSorbo claims she accidentally dropped a beer glass as she asked the officers what they were doing to her sister. The officers then handcuffed Jessica DiSorbo as well and placed her in the vehicle next to her sister. With Hill driving and Hoy in the passenger seat, the women were brought to the police station. Contrary to the officers' contentions, Rebecca DiSorbo denies ever hitting her head against the vehicle's partition or window during the trip to the station. Pedersen traveled to the station in a separate vehicle. 9 Upon arriving at the station, the officers escorted the DiSorbo sisters, still handcuffed, through the garage area known as the sallyport. Hoy first led Jessica DiSorbo toward the doorway entrance to the station. Jessica DiSorbo contends that, as Hoy walked her through the sallyport, he aggressively slammed her into the entry door. Hoy then brought Jessica DiSorbo into the booking room. As memorialized in a surveillance videotape, Hoy bent Jessica DiSorbo forward to move her along. Jessica DiSorbo claims that she was not offering resistance at this point, and alleges that, when she tried to stand up straight, Hoy threatened, If you keep doin' that, I'm going to slam your head against the wall. He then pushed her to the floor, causing her left side to slam onto the ground. 10 Rebecca DiSorbo's allegations about what transpired at the station are even more serious. She claims that as she walked down the hall with Hill and Pedersen, she made a comment to Pedersen along the lines of, I hope you're happy, this is basically all because of you. In response to this comment, she claims that Pedersen seized her from behind and pushed her against the wall to a blind spot out of view of the surveillance camera. Pedersen then allegedly grabbed her throat, slammed her body against the wall, and choked her with such force that she was unable to breathe and began to lose vision. When Pedersen stopped choking her, Rebecca DiSorbo kicked him out of anger. Rebecca DiSorbo claims that Pedersen then threw her onto the ground and struck her repeatedly as she lay face down and defenseless. After joining her sister in the holding cell, Rebecca DiSorbo was allowed to make a phone call to her mother. In that conversation, which was audiotaped, Rebecca DiSorbo cried and stated that he beat the shit out of me because she would not go out on a date with this guy, referring to Pedersen.
11 In stark contrast, Pedersen depicts himself as a conscientious police officer, dutifully doing his job even when off-duty. At about the time the DiSorbo sisters arrived at the Union Inn Bar, Pedersen was resting at home during his evening off. After awaking at approximately 2:30 a.m. and unable to fall back to sleep, Pedersen decided to go to the Union Inn Bar where his brother, Roy Pedersen, worked as a doorman. While socializing with a friend at the bar, Pedersen noticed Rebecca DiSorbo, who he says he suspected to be underage, stumble on a step in a manner that suggested intoxication. Following what he stated was his obligation to act whenever he witnesses a possible violation of the law, even if technically off-duty, Pedersen approached Rebecca DiSorbo and requested identification. Rebecca DiSorbo's response, according to Pedersen, was one of irrational fury. Rebecca DiSorbo not only refused to comply with his request for proof of age, but also launched a profanity-ridden tirade toward him. Pedersen maintains that he identified himself as a police officer and made a second request for identification, but Rebecca DiSorbo continued to curse at him and refused to produce identification. 12 At this point, Pedersen went to his brother, Roy Pedersen, for assistance in handling the situation. Pedersen explains that Rebecca DiSorbo complied with his brother's request for identification, but in the process continued to shout vulgarities toward him and even reached around Roy Pedersen to strike him. Pedersen contends that he once again informed Rebecca DiSorbo that he was a police officer, and told her that if she continued to behave in this manner, she would be arrested. After Rebecca DiSorbo refused to calm down and tried to strike him again, Pedersen arrested her for harassment in the second degree. 4 Pedersen recalls that when he informed Rebecca DiSorbo that she was under arrest, she attempted to punch him, forcing him to take her arm, twist it behind her back, and escort her out of the bar. Outside the bar, a police vehicle with Hoy and Hill awaited. According to Hoy, Jessica DiSorbo, who had exited the bar at this point, screamed obscenities and threw a beer mug at him and Hill, which missed the officers and exploded on the curb. Because of this act, Hill arrested Jessica DiSorbo, requiring Hoy's assistance in handcuffing her because she was resisting. The DiSorbo sisters were placed in the police car and driven to the station by Hoy and Hill. Throughout the trip, Hoy recalls that Rebecca DiSorbo screamed obscenities and repeatedly banged her head on the driver's side window, causing a loud sound when her head impacted the glass. 13 Upon arriving at the station, Hoy first led Jessica DiSorbo through the garage into the doorway of the station. Hoy claims that Jessica DiSorbo was extremely uncooperative as they walked toward the entry door, continuously kicking him as they walked in the sallyport area and forcefully doing exactly the opposite of what he told her. Because of her refusal to follow his instructions, Hoy stated that he had no choice but to resort to physical force to direct her through the sallyport area. While Hoy admits that he pulled Jessica DiSorbo toward the door, Hoy maintains that he merely was trying to position her so that she would go through the door and that Jessica DiSorbo never made contact with the door area. Hill, who followed them as they entered the station, claims that he did not hear any sound indicating that Jessica DiSorbo hit the door area. 14 Hoy also admits that he bent Jessica DiSorbo forward as he moved her through the station's hallway, but justifies this come-along move as a defense tactic which officers are taught as a method of moving prisoners, handcuffed people, to comply with your direction. Hoy claims that when Jessica DiSorbo tried to kick him again, he placed her on the floor and sat on her leg. Hoy then picked her up, and brought her into the holding cage and handcuffed her to the cell. 15 Pedersen's version of the events at the station also differs from that of Rebecca DiSorbo. After he arrived at the station in a separate vehicle, Pedersen passed Hill and Rebecca DiSorbo in the station's hallway, at which point, Pedersen states, she kicked him. Hill and Pedersen then physically restrained Rebecca DiSorbo by pinning her down across a sink, and, to use Officer Pedersen's words, for whatever reason she fell onto the floor. Pedersen maintains that he never punched or kicked Rebecca DiSorbo as they restrained her on the sink. Pedersen further denies ever choking Rebecca DiSorbo, and claims he never laid a hand on her during the period where they are not visible on the surveillance videotape. Pedersen explains, however, that he and Hill needed to use force on Rebecca DiSorbo in the booking room, because she was violent and combative and needed to be physically restrained. Hill maintains that, while he fully appreciated his duty to intervene when another officer engages in excessive force, he never witnessed Pedersen use excessive force on Rebecca DiSorbo.
16 Rebecca DiSorbo's injuries were well documented. Lieutenant Kurt Gerfin, a paramedic with the Schenectady Fire Department, examined Rebecca DiSorbo at the holding cell and subsequently transported her to the emergency room at St. Clare's Hospital, where she remained for a few hours. According to Lieutenant Gerfin's report, Rebecca DiSorbo had two large hematomas on her head. In addition, on December 28, 1998, the day after the incident, Dr. Chester Burton conducted a medical examination of Rebecca DiSorbo. Dr. Burton observed bruises throughout Rebecca DiSorbo's upper body. Pressure point bruises discovered on the top of her neck and behind her ear were consistent with the alleged choking incident. In addition, Dr. Burton found bruises of various sizes on Rebecca DiSorbo's head, right forehead, mandible, right shoulder, hands, left elbow, spine, and the area behind her left ear. None of these injuries required surgery nor did any result in permanent scarring or nerve damage.