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Man Says Police Brutalized Him After They Killed a Fellow Cop

The man whose alleged crime led to a New York cop's shooting death by another cop is speaking up. But it's not to claim any responsibility or to apologize to Omar Edwards' family.

Miguel Goitia, 42, is in custody at Riker's Island after he was arrested May 28 for breaking into Edwards' car. A housing patrolman, Edwards was just leaving duty for the night when he is said to have caught Goitia rummaging through Edwards' vehicle. While chasing Goitia with his gun drawn, police accounts state that Edwards, no longer in uniform, was ordered to stop by fellow cop Andrew Dunton,  who didn't recognize Edwards. When Edwards turned, Dunton shot him, believing Edwards to be an armed criminal. It wasn't until Dunton and other cops on the scene ripped open Edwards' bloody clothes to reveal a police academy T-shirt that they learned he was an officer.

Goitia was arrested minutes later, and now he claims officers attacked him while in custody.

They beat me up," he told The New York Daily News. "They say I killed a cop. They kicked me; they punched me; they hit me on the back of the head.

Goitia reportedly showed bruises on his face and forehead, but wouldn't discuss Edwards' shooting.

Meanwhile, leaders of a national Black officers' organization are lobbying the NYPD to give Edwards a posthumous promotion to detective, so the officer's wife and son will receive increased death benefits. Edwards was buried last week.

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