NY Daily Record Since 1908
A Rochester man has filed a federal lawsuit claiming he was falsely arrested by Rochester Police who hit him and sprayed him with mace.
Quentin Keene claims in a 58-page complaint filed Monday in state Supreme Court that he was attacked by an officer about 3:30 p.m. on Sept. 18, 2014, while talking to his grandmother on a cell phone at a laundromat at 728 Genesee St.
Keene claims Officer Mario Masic entered the laundromat with his gun drawn and, without saying anything, then slammed Keene onto a table and then into a wall. Keene claims Masic hit him several times on the head and body before he was pepper sprayed.
After several other officers arrived, Keene was handcuffed and hit by other officers, according to the complaint.
Keene also claims Masic threatened to shoot him if he “did not stop crying out for help and moving,” according to the suit.
Keene is represented by New York City lawyer Elliot D. Shields.
Before Keene was arrested, police had apparently received a report of a black man wearing gray jeans and a gray jacket with a gun arguing with a homeless man near the laundromat.
Although he did not match the description and was not arguing with anyone Keene claims Masic used the report as a pretext for his arrest.
Keene was charged with obstructing governmental administration and resisting arrest, but those charges were later dismissed.
