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Jermaine Faulk, 42, said the 2011 incident left him with several injuries, including a fractured orbital bone and deep cuts around his right eye that required stitches.
The same group of officers that inflicted the beating also shot his 9-month-old pit bull twice, then killed the dog by hanging it from its leash, Faulk said.
He said he has been traumatized by the incident and continues to feel “fear, embarrassment, humiliation and emotional distress.”
In the lawsuit, Faulk is seeking unspecified damages in U.S. District Court in White Plains. The suit names the City of Yonkers and Yonkers police officers David Bohan, Richard Rubin, Carl Penasso and Anthony Scaramuzzo as defendants.
Neither the city nor Faulk’s attorney could be immediately reached for comment.
According to court documents, the incident began Aug. 11, 2011, at about 4 p.m. when Bohan and Rubin approached Faulk outside Bregano Park on the southeast side of the city.
The officers asked for identification and began searching Faulk after telling him that he was “not supposed to be over here.”
After a verbal exchange, Faulk said, both officers began punching him in the face and then placed him in a headlock, causing Faulk to pass out. At one point, Bohan told Rubin he punched Faulk so hard in the face he “suspected he had broken his hand,” the lawsuit said.
Eventually, Faulk’s 9-month-old pit bull became involved in the altercation, biting the bottom of Bohan’s pants, the lawsuit said.
When Penasso and Scaramuzzo arrived, Penasso shot the dog twice, the lawsuit said. When the dog didn’t die, Scaramuzzo hung it by its leash from the fence, eventually killing the dog, according to court documents.
Faulk was later taken to St. Joseph’s Medical Center, where he was treated for various injuries, including a fractured orbital bone around his right eye, abrasions and a torn right bicep, the lawsuit said.
Faulk, who has served time in state prison for various drug offenses, was charged with drug possession, obstruction and resisting arrest in relation to the incident, later pleading guilty to lesser charges, according to court records.
A court conference had been set for Monday in the lawsuit.
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