MAN TELLS GRAND JURY POLICE BEAT, SODOMIZED HIM

Michael Mineo, the 24-year-old Brooklyn man who says he was beaten and
sodomized by police officers on a subway platform, recounted his story
to a grand jury yesterday, then told reporters he is glad his
allegations are being taken seriously.

"I was violated by police and I feel like they are going to be brought
to justice," Mineo said. "At first I felt like people weren't even
believing me. Now that things have come into the light, I feel a
little bit more better. I know that these cops are going to be brought
to justice.

"That's what I want," he said.

Mineo, who walks with a cane since the Oct. 15 incident, spoke outside
State Supreme Court in Brooklyn after testifying for about a half-hour
before the investigative grand jury that will decide whether to indict
the four officers involved in subduing him at the Prospect Park
station, in Prospect-Lefferts Gardens.

The four have been placed on modified duty, meaning their guns and
shields were taken away and they were confined to a desk. An attorney
for the officers declined to comment.

The NYPD said Mineo was smoking marijuana outside the station, then
fled inside when police approached. He was caught and issued a summons
for disorderly conduct after eating the marijuana cigarette, police
said. Mineo claims he was assaulted, with police using a radio to
sodomize him.

Two civilian witnesses did not see Mineo violated, police said, but
his lawyers contend other witnesses have backed Mineo's account that
he was attacked.

A fifth officer, assigned to the transit bureau, is likely to
cooperate with authorities and provide testimony supporting at least
some of Mineo's contentions, according to sources briefed on the
investigation.

Mineo's injuries are consistent with sexual assault, his lawyers have
quoted doctors as saying. Mineo, who was been hospitalized twice since
the incident, says he has trouble eating and sleeping.

He also said he was "shocked" that police officers would violate him
this way.

"These are people that are supposed to be protecting me, and they did
this to me in broad daylight, in the afternoon," Mineo said. "I can't
even step out of my own apartment. I am scared for my own safety.

"I don't know what can happen to me if I step outside."