Halevy
filed the lawsuit against officers Luis Vega and Yelena Bruzzese on
Jan. 22 in Brooklyn federal court, accusing them of attacking him at a
Jewish youth center in Crown Heights.
The
surveillance video
from October showed one of the officers punching Halevy repeatedly in
the head, while another officer struck Halevy with a baton for over two
minutes.
The officers, who were responding to an emergency phone
call, said Halevy was sleeping naked on a couch in the lounge and
refused to leave.
While Halevy claimed he had been granted
permission to sleep at the center, he had nonetheless been charged with a
felony count of assault and three misdemeanors: resisting arrest,
obstruction and criminal trespass.
The
video footage led to widespread condemnation from Jewish community leaders, including
a petition that had garnered approximately 10,000
signatures by October 22—one day before the news that the charges had been dropped.
Halevy's
attorney, Norman Siegel, said Halevy is currently receiving counseling for pain and trauma suffered from the incident.
"For
all the New Yorkers who saw the video, when you see it, you want to put
your hands over your eyes because very rarely do you see this kind of
stark video of police brutality," Siegel said, according to local
reports.
The
New York City Law Department said it will review papers related to the case.
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