From the Yonkers News Desk of Brian Harrod.

 

WESTCHESTER NEWS CENTER >>> BREAKING: Community Members Say A Man Accused Of Cutting Yonkers Police Officers During An Arrest Has Been Found Dead DEAD SUSPECT: YPD Commissioner Chris Sapienza has not released details on the death of Yonkers homeless resident Patrick "PJ" Reddon. YONKERS (WESTCHESTER COUNTY) NY: Patrick Reddon, a 37-year-old homeless individual living in the City of Yonkers had been charged with Attempted Assault 1 a Class B Felony in addition to other crimes. On Sunday, August 7th, 2022, Yonkers Police Department officers responded to 125 Saratoga Avenue on a report of a domestic dispute. A 34-year-old woman alleged that her ex-boyfriend made entry into her apartment and had left. Later that morning Reddon returned to the location and re-engaged the female with the dispute and 911 was called. Officers entered the apartment and located the couple arguing. Yonkers PD officers allege that Reddon resisted arrest and this caused him "to stumble onto an adjacent bed, where he then picked up a box cutter". The YPD Officials said Reddon cut two of the arresting officers. Finally, an officer then chose to deployed his Taser, thus subduing the suspect. COMMUNICATION PROCEDURES NOT FOLLOWED: Later, the Yonkers Police Department selectively sent out press releases to certain favored news organizations raising eye brows of community advocates that questioned if there was some sort of cover up. At the moment YPD Commissioner Christopher Sapienza and Yonkers Mayor Mike Spano are not allowing the release of the cause of death. Condolences to Mr. Reddon's family and friends.... https://westchester.town.news/g/white-plains-ny/n/116947/breaking-community-members-say-man-accused-cutting-yonkers-police

UPDATE: Sources Are Saying The Yonkers Police Department Transported Him To The Hospital After His Arrest And He Was Treated Before Being Handed Over To The Westchester County Department Of Corrections. Later, the Westchester Jail officials rushed him to the hospital where an emergency room doctor said he needed emergency surgery and he died before this surgery was preformed.

PREVIOUS REPORT >>> THE MARSHALL PROJECT: Police Misconduct Cost Yonkers Millions And The Complaints Keep Coming PHOTO: The Marshall Project and NPR’s Embedded Looks At 102 YPD Lawsuits That Have Been Settled with The Help Of Yonkers Former Police Commissioner John Mueller YONKERS (WESTCHESTER COUNTY) NY: The Yonkers Police Department does not look like the community it serves. Yonkers is 19% Black and 40% Latino. But the YPD's force of 600 police officers are overwhelmingly white. National Public Radio (NPR) was given unprecedented access to the Yonkers PD by former police chief John Mueller, who this year, became the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) Chief of Police. NPR obtained records of payouts by the City of Yonkers for incidents of alleged police misconduct that took place between 2007 and 2020. This time period in which the payouts occurred was while the U.S. Department of Justice was investigating the Yonkers Police Department and recommending areas for reform. During this period of Justice Department investigation and oversight, there were at least 102 lawsuits that alleged misconduct that resulted in either a settlement or a jury verdict with the City of Yonkers. The vast majority of the cases, 95, were settled. Seven payouts came after jury verdicts against the city, in which the plaintiffs were able to make their case in court. The cost to the City of Yonkers taxpayers totaled more than $5.5 million. The average payout was $55,056. Many officers were sued repeatedly over the years. At least 10 officers were named between four and nine times in the lawsuits we reviewed. The city paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to settle cases involving their alleged misconduct. Still, the officers often received departmental awards, and in two cases, a promotion. These officers may be even more such cases since the court documents that were reviewed left many officers unnamed. Many of the case the officers appeared simply as "John Doe." One YPD officer, Alex Della Donna, was involved in at least nine settlements over alleged misconduct that happened after the DOJ started its investigation. The city has paid out $402,500 for cases that he was involved in. One case is still being litigated, although Della Donna retired at age 45 in late 2021. A plaintiff in one of those cases, who was 15 at the time, stated in her court complaint that police pointed a weapon at her, opened the driver's side door and pulled her out. She claims she hit the ground face first. She alleges that Della Donna and four other male officers severely beat her, that she suffered a broken nose and several missing teeth, and needed to be hospitalized. In her complaint, she says she heard officers laughing at her missing teeth; then she lost consciousness. The Yonkers City Council members approved a taxpayer settlement with this lady. Another woman alleged in a court complaint that Della Donna coerced her to have sex with him at least seven times in an unmarked vehicle while he was on duty, promising her that in exchange he would get her drug charges dropped. In the court complaint, she claimed she was worried the charges could lead her to being deported and losing her children. She claims that she became suicidal. Once again, Yonkers City Council members approved a taxpayer settlement with this lady. In another case a woman says she was at her then-boyfriend's house, they were arguing, and he called the police. A group of officers arrived and told her to show them her driver's license. In her lawsuit she said that on the way to retrieve her license from her car, she was violently assaulted by four male officers — pushed to the ground, kicked, grabbed by her throat and lifted to her feet, and repeatedly thrown against the trunk of her car. She claimed in court documents that what happened was unprovoked. In her federal civil rights lawsuit she said Officers took her to a holding cell, and after she requested medical care the police eventually took her to a Yonkers hospital several hours later. There, she was treated for a fractured hand and injuries to her arm and shoulder. Once again, Yonkers City Council members approved a taxpayer settlement with this lady. The access to internal records that former Yonkers Police Commissioner John Mueller provided to the National Public Radio journalists about Officer Alex Della Donna were shocking. Della Donna faced a disciplinary hearing 11 months after the suit alleging sexual assault was filed. His supervisors wrote that "his sexual relationship with a criminal defendant exhibited a ... lack of professionalism that reflected unfavorably upon the department." They revoked 30 days of paid leave and ordered him to retake an ethics training course. That wasn't Della Donna's first disciplinary hearing. In another incident, according to department disciplinary records, Della Donna allegedly pinned down a man being held in the old Yonkers city jail. The records say he used his knee on the man's neck, even though the man wasn't resisting. Della Donna's supervisors revoked four days of paid leave. Despite that disciplinary hearing and several subsequent lawsuits alleging misconduct, Della Donna received 14 departmental awards. In total Della Donna received more than 60 awards throughout the course of his nearly 15 years with the Yonkers Police Department. YPD officers who were involved in frequent payouts are rarely disciplined, and when they were, their penalties are light.. https://yonkersny.town.news/g/yonkers-ny/n/114490/marshall-project-police-misconduct-cost-yonkers-millions-and-complaints-keep