ENEWSLETTER: November 2015
Civil Rights and Personal Injury and General Practice Law Firm, Dedicated to Social Justice
The Law Offices of Frederick K. Brewington is a well-respected litigation firm with an office in Hempstead, Long Island. Our focus is primarily in the area of civil rights, voting rights, employment discrimination, police misconduct, personal injury, medical malpractice, wrongful death and criminal law. However, the Law Offices of Frederick K. Brewington is a full- service law firm handling matters in numerous areas of law and providing a wide range of services from contract formation to litigation and trial practice.
RECENT VERDICTS AND SETTLEMENTS
$7.75 million- Civil Rights and wrongful death action brought by the family of deceased
$4.7 million- Repeated verbal and physical assaults on Yemeni-American employee, while supervisor failed to protect employee and discipline the assailant
$1.277 million- Race based attack and serious injury by violent acts against Plaintiffs, who were lured to an isolated warehouse
$2.8 million- Wrongful death, products liability case involving a tow motor accident at a sewage treatment plant
Dolores Sharpe, Retired African-American Nassau County Police Officer, Files Federal Civil Rights Lawsuit Charging Nassau Police with False Arrest, Malicious Prosecution, Racial Discrimination, Verbal and Physical Abuse
Retired Officer Dolores Sharpe, who is an African-American woman and a veteran of the United States Air Force and the Nassau County Police Department, was joined by members of several law enforcement and community groups at The Law Offices of Frederick K. Brewington on November 11 to announce the filing of her federal lawsuit for her wrongful treatment, violations of her constitutional rights, malicious prosecution, false arrest and abuse at the hands of fellow Nassau police officers. The mistreatment of Officer Sharpe by Officers Charles L. Volpe, Victor J. Gladitz and former Police Commissioner Thomas Dale is now the subject of the lawsuit, claiming violations of 42 U.S.C. §§ 1981, 1983, 1985, 1986 and 1988. Defendants then negligently, wantonly, recklessly, intentionally and knowingly sought to and did wrongfully deprive Plaintiff of terms, conditions and privileges of her employment, through unlawful misrepresentation, misinformation, character assassination and wrongful discipline.
On Friday, November 29, 2013, Officer Sharpe was confronted by another member of the Department who exhibited an uncontrolled level of aggression, abusive language and vindictive nature that clearly placed the public at risk. Officer Volpe’s decision to become vulgar, verbally abusive and physically threatening to Officer Sharpe, along with the use of verbal threats and unnecessary physical force by Officer Gladitz, who are both out of the Fifth Precinct, mark a series of improper acts against Officer Sharpe that not only violated her rights as a citizen, but violated numerous procedures, rules and regulations for which each of these officers should be made to answer. Then the misuse of arrest, and conspiracy to file false charges of Resisting Arrest and Harassment against Officer Sharpe only served to make a bad situation worse. Any claims of wrongful actions by Officer Sharpe was nothing short of ludicrous, as was proven by video and audio records. This false testimony by the two defendant officers can only be seen as an attempt by the subject officers to cover up their own wrongful and discriminatory acts. Their complete disdain and ongoing verbal abuse of Officer Sharpe is seen as a clear exhibition of racial bias that was evident from Officer Volpe's opening curses and insults.
The demand for the dismissal of all charges was repeatedly made by Officer Sharpe — and repeatedly denied by the Nassau Police Department and the County of Nassau. Instead, she was forced to go through nearly two years of litigation with criminal charges pending against her. On March 4, 2015, after a full jury trial, the criminal charges pending in Nassau County Criminal Court were dismissed after a full trial in the matter of People v. Sharpe (Docket No. 2013NA027341). Not only was this incident one which subjected Officer Sharpe to an extreme level of humiliation, but it was a clear attempt by these two officers to personally degrade her and deprive her of any sense of dignity. Then her employer brought charges against her, claiming that she acted improperly. This showed the hostile and abusive work environment to which she was being subjected and forced her to retire out of fear for her safety, health and career.
Frederick K. Brewington and Precilla Lockett, J.D. of The Law Offices of Frederick K. Brewington will be working on the case for Ms. Sharpe.
556 Peninsula Blvd., Hempstead, New York 11550 | Phone: 516-489-6959 | Fax: 516-489-6958
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