A key witness in a civil suit brought against the Rochester Police Department says he’s being intimidated by officers calling him and pointing at him.
At a United Christian Leadership Ministries news conference, Pedro DeJesus said this began after he was identified as a witness in Ricky Bryant’s suit against the RPD.
DeJesus is the man who first called 911 to report a teenager on a bike with a gun leaving the Puerto Rican Festival in Rochester last summer. But he says police grabbed the wrong African-American teen. The patrolmen’s union says Bryant failed to obey police orders, but Ricky Bryant and his family allege in their suit that the teenager was assaulted by police, beaten and shot with pepper balls.
Bryant’s lawyer, Charles Burkitt, says DeJesus reached out to him after the suit was filed. Burkitt says DeJesus was concerned police were trying to get him to change his story.
The department says DeJesus has not filed any complaint. In a statement, the RPD says it takes misconduct complaints seriously and will conduct a thorough and complete investigation of any complaint reported.