Charges To Be Dropped Against Area Woman Arrested For Assaulting Police Officer

A grand jury voted this week not to indict a Flatbush woman arrested for assaulting a police officer, sources familiar with the case said.

Latisha Bellamy-Maldonado, 27, who was arrested on the afternoon of March 25th at 180 Woodruff Avenue (near Flatbush Avenue) and charged with assault of a police officer and resisting arrest, among other crimes, will be cleared of all charges, sources said.

What occurred on March 25th is arguably an example of the highly fraught relations between the NYPD and some New York City communities.

Bellamy-Maldonado was reportedly outside playing chess with neighbors at the time of her encounter with the police. Officers said they went to Woodruff Avenue on March 25th because they were “responding to a job.” They tried to question Bellamy-Maldonado but claimed that she refused to provide identification, and then began to incite other residents to “yell, push and grab” at officers.

Officers then tried to place Bellamy-Maldonado under arrest but she allegedly lay down to resist. At some point, it was charged that she kicked a police officer — Carlo Cassata — in the face, “causing pain, bruising and swelling.”

Some community members did not accept the police’s version of their encounter with Bellamy-Maldonado. Neither, apparently, did the grand jury.

It was a case of “mistaken identity,” said Imani Henry, a spokesman for activist group Equality for Flatbush Project. Bellamy-Maldonado was “racially profiled, harassed and then physically assaulted by the NYPD,” he argued. A video of the incident shows some bystanders claiming that Maldonado was kicked by an officer just after she was placed into a squad car.

In addition to three counts of assault and resisting address, Bellamy-Maldonado had been charged with obstruction of government administration, two counts of disorderly conduct, incitement to riot, menacing and harassment.

Her case will not be officially dismissed until paperwork for the grand jury’s return of a “no indictment” has been filed, sources said.