An NYPD officer who was accused of smashing a man in the face with his baton during a road-rage incident two years ago plead guilty to the assault yesterday. Officer Marc Rios, a 13-year NYPD vet, was sentenced to probation as part of his plea deal, but was immediately fired from the force.
On March 30, 2009, victim John Roperto said he was leaving a Kingsbridge nightclub around 4:20 a.m when an NYPD squad car almost ran him over. Roperto slapped the car in anger, which prompted Rios to get out and crack him in the face with his flexible police baton, breaking both Roperto's cheekbone and the baton. In his civil lawsuit, Roperto alleged that the blow knocked him into the gutter, at which point Rios and his partner drove away. And when Rios's Sergeant later informed him about a 911 call to the location, he allegedly quipped, "That must be my bag of shit."
