A Staten Island man said he required surgery after being attacked and mocked with a homophobic slur by local police outside his house.
"While I was on the ground, I had mud and blood in my mouth," 31-year-old Stuart Falcone told the New York Daily News. "One [of the officers] said, 'Don't let it get on you, he probably has AIDS, the f*ggot.'"
Falcone, who is gay, reportedly plans to file a federal lawsuit in connection with the June 19 incident, which was captured on camera from across the street. The footage shows four officers at Falcone's door, before he is pulled outside and pulled to the ground.
The audio does not pick up the remarks Falcone attributed to the police, but officers can be seen pinning him to the ground as his mother stands in the background yelling. Falcone said he suffered two black eyes, a broken nose, and cuts on his face and body during the encounter, and also aggravated an injury to his foot, requiring another operation.
"I said, 'Please, I just had surgery on my foot,'" he recalled. "One of the cops stepped on my foot. Another cop comes and steps on my head."
The encounter allegedly began when police went to Falcone's home to respond to a noise complaint concerning an early-morning argument he had with his brother. Falcone confirmed that the two men "had words," but said his brother had already left the premises when the officers arrived.
"As I'm talking to them through the screen door, they're saying to come outside," he said. "I said, 'For what?'"
He said officers also threatened his dog after it began barking during the discussion. The dog is not seen in the footage posted by the Daily News.
"The cops said, 'Get your dog out of here or I'll f*cking kill it,'" he said. "I was like, 'What do you mean you're going to kill my dog?'"
Falcone was never charged in connection with the incident. The Daily News reported that, according to a police source, he spit in an officer's face after being "confrontational and uncooperative" during the encounter.
Watch footage of the encounter, as posted by the Daily News, below.
[h/t Gawker]
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