Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said today that the teenager who taped a stop-and-frisk encounter had filed a complaint with the police.
But the teenager did not present any audio evidence at that time, he said.
The audio, released by The Nation this week, recorded officers calling a teenager a “f-ing mutt” and threatening to break his arm. They told him he was stopped for looking at them suspiciously.
Police investigated the complaint, Kelly said, after the June 2011 incident.
“There was no discussion about an audiotape, it was never presented to the investigators,” he said.
“The case was then closed because of lack of cooperation,” Kelly told reporters.
Now, with the new evidence, which Kelly said he did not know whether it was “an authentic tape,” the Civilian Complaint Review Board will reopen the case, he said.
Responding to the Council hearing where many Council members criticized the practice, he also told reporters, “I think that stop-and-frisk is a valuable tool,” but added, “Everything we do can always be improved.”
