Date: 10-16-2008

Case Style: Harwinder Vilkhu v. Adam Jangel and Sgt. Michael Hoehl

Case Number: 1:06-cv-02095-CPS-JO

Judge: Charles P. Sifton

Court: United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York

Plaintiff's Attorney: Mariann Meier Wang, Kennisha Anlee Austin and Jon Abady, Emery Celli Brinckerhoff & Abady LLP, New York, New York

Defendant's Attorney: Arthur Larkin and Robyn Nicole Pullio, NYC Office of Corporation Counsel, Special Federal Litigation Division, New York, New York

Description: Harwinder Vilkhu sued Adam Jangel and Sgt. Michael Hoehl on a civil rights violation theory, 42 U.S.C. 1983, claiming that defendants wrongfully assaulted him as he sat on a bench on a college campus. Plaintiff testified the officers grabbed him by the collar while he was talking to a friend on his cell phone as he sat outside the York College Performing Arts Center in Queens. He was going to meet friends there for a sold-out concert. Campus security officers asked city police to help with crowd control. Plaintiff claimed that when he asked the officers' names and asked why they were mistreating him, Jangel hit him in the groin and stomach with a flashlight while Hoehl held Vilkhu's hand. The two called the Indian-born Vilkhu, who had become a U.S. citizen four months before, "all sorts of racist names."

Defendants claimed that they never touched Vilkhu, 36, though an ambulance was called to the scene of the May 2005 encounter.

Outcome: Plaintiff's verdict for $20,000.00.

Plaintiff's Experts:

Defendant's Experts:

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