INJURIES OF MAN CLAIMING POLICE ABUSE ARE DETAILED

A doctor who supervised Michael Mineo's care at Brookdale University
Hospital testified on Tuesday that when Mr. Mineo arrived shortly
after his confrontation with the police in a Brooklyn subway station
15 months ago, he had anal skin lacerations, a "small amount" of anal
bleeding and symptoms of an internal inflammation, including a high
white blood cell count.

The doctor, Syed Ahmed, said the insertion of a "foreign object"
could have caused the tears and led to the inflammation, which
eventually developed into a full-blown infection. And Dr. Ahmed said
it was "highly unlikely" that Mr. Mineo could have caused the tears
himself, as defense lawyers have suggested, given how painful it
would have been.

His testimony in State Supreme Court in Brooklyn offered the first
detailed glimpse of Mr. Mineo's medical condition during two separate
hospital visits after the events of Oct. 15, 2008, when prosecutors
contend that Officer Richard Kern repeatedly rammed his retractable
baton between Mr. Mineo's buttocks. Officers had seen Mr. Mineo, then
a 26-year-old body piercer, smoking marijuana and chased him into the
Prospect Park subway station.

Officer Kern is charged with aggravated sexual abuse. Two other
officers, Andrew Morales and Alex Cruz, are accused of helping
Officer Kern hush it up.

Since Mr. Mineo first went public with his story, the medical records
have been something of a mystery. After the subway encounter, his
lawyers refused to fully release the records, fueling skepticism over
whether he was telling the truth. For more than a week, top police
officials, citing witness testimony, denied any abuse had occurred --
even though investigators had interviewed Mr. Mineo in the hospital,
and television cameras had showed him there later, his face etched in pain.

More medical testimony is expected on Wednesday, as prosecutors wrap
up their case.

Defense lawyers plan to call their own medical experts to testify
that the tears could have been caused by a bowel movement or other
factors unrelated to Mr. Mineo's arrest, and that the elevated white
blood cell count suggested an infection well under way before he
encountered Officer Kern.

Mr. Mineo tried to leave the hospital the day after he was admitted,
but ended up staying until Oct. 19. He was hospitalized again, at
Brooklyn Hospital Center, a few days later with an abscess that had
to be drained.

Court testimony and records show that investigators were in contact
with both Mr. Mineo and the Brookdale staff on the first day he was
hospitalized, though it is unclear which of his medical records they
looked at, or whether they showed any of them to doctors or experts.

In court last week, the officer who conducted the police's
internal-affairs investigation testified that prosecutors prevented
his team from taking the medical records to an expert; prosecutors,
in turn, said that was because they had their own experts.

On the witness stand on Tuesday, Dr. Ahmed, a surgeon, said he never
actually met Mr. Mineo, but was on duty the night he was admitted and
supervised his case. Mr. Mineo's first exam was at 5:30 p.m. that
day, about four hours after the encounter with the police. A report
said he stated that "he was smoking weed, attacked by police
officers," and complained of abdominal pain and that he had been
assaulted by a "foreign body to rectum." It notes "multiple rectal
tears, appear to be superficial."

Dr. Ahmed explained that the references to rectal tears were
mistaken: Mr. Mineo actually had "anal skin lacerations," he said,
and showed no sign, from a CT scan, that the walls of his rectum had
been pierced. Mr. Mineo's heart rate and white blood cell count were
"significantly high," Dr. Ahmed testified, indicating an
"inflammatory process going on in the body."

Another report noted Mr. Mineo complained of pain in his lower
abdomen, and while urinating. The CT scan found an enlarged pelvic
muscle "consistent with edema," or a swelling caused by excess fluid.
His pain score was recorded on yet another report as 10 out of 10.

"That means pain of a maximum intensity," Dr. Ahmed said.

A prosecutor, Jeffrey Ferguson, showed Dr. Ahmed Officer Kern's
baton, and asked: "Is the insertion of this object into the rectum of
Michael Mineo consistent with your medical findings?" Dr. Ahmed
answered that it "could be."

During a heated cross-examination, Officer Cruz's lawyer, Stuart
London, asked Dr. Ahmed repeatedly why Mr. Mineo did not receive
antibiotics, or a battery of tests. Mr. London also asked about the
distance between the site of the inflammation, and Mr. Mineo's tears,
suggesting they were too far away from each other to be related.

"It's not so far away," Dr. Ahmed said.

As Mr. London tried to hand Officer Kern's baton to Dr. Ahmed, the
doctor paused for a moment to put on surgical gloves.

"If it is the same object," the doctor said, "I would suggest that
you do that, too."