Louima Calls for Independent Prosecutors in Brutality Cases

New York, NY —

The victim in one of the city's most infamous police abuse cases says he believes his suffering has helped illuminate police violence that might otherwise stay in the shadows.

Writing in today's Daily News, Abner Louima calls on state and federal lawmakers to require independent prosecutors, rather than local district attorneys, to handle all police brutality cases. Otherwise, he says there will always be officers who believe they can get away with attacks like the one he suffered a year ago this week.

Louima was beaten and sodomized with a broomstick in a police station bathroom on August 9, 1997. He'd been arrested in a brawl outside a Brooklyn nightclub. Louima suffered a ruptured bladder and colon and spent two months in the hospital. Charges against him were dropped.

One of the officers involved later pleaded guilty to civil rights violations and is serving a 30-year prison sentence. Another pleaded guilty to lying about the assault and served a five-year term.