There are wildly differing accounts of what happened during a fight in the 30th Precinct stationhouse in Harlem on March 20th, but this much is certain: Retired officer Merault Almonor is facing felony assault charges for allegedly punching a female cop so hard in the face that she's suffering partial paralysis. "He hit her like he was hitting another guy," one NYPD source tell the Post.
Police say the fracas started after Almonor's wife, Wilma Dore-Almonor, came to the station to pick up her 13-year-old son, Devin, who had been arrested after a stop-and-frisk on West 141st Street. Sources tell the Daily News the teen had been part of a group that was "acting out," while the Post's NYPD source claims Devin screamed, "My father's a cop! F- - - you!" after getting stopped. (Cops say they stopped him "because he ran from a squad car while grabbing his pants waist—a gesture that gave the mistaken impression he had a gun.")
Cut to the stationhouse, where Devin's mom allegedly burst in screaming, "Get those f - - -ing cuffs off my son!" Police say she was arrested because she refused to calm down, and in the midst of a scuffle her husband punched a female cop in the face, sending her to the floor. He was also arrested and released that night with a misdemeanor assault charge. But once the extent of the female officer's injuries became apparent, the charges were elevated to felonies. Almonor, 49, turned himself in yesterday.
But there are two sides to every cop on cop brawl story, and Almonor's lawyer claims that 10 cops jumped Almonor's wife, and then jumped Almonor when he intervened! He's demanding that the DA's Office investigate charges of gang assault against the cops in the stationhouse, and calls the whole situation "ridiculous," which is one thing we can probably all agree on.
