This is one of the most important videos I've ever uploaded to my channel. Viewer discretion is advised. >> Not one single person was held accountable for any misconduct. It's appalling. It's appalling. If If Danny did that to someone, he would have been held accountable, but because he's not a cop. >> He made me perform oral sex on him. >> It's a system. Like they're leaving this man alone in this room to do what he's doing to me. >> No one had one day off. No one was suspended for a half a second. >> Business as usual. >> The other driver was a police officer. >> PBA representative driving the officer away from the scene. >> I was basically told to change my findings on that and I I refused. >> The one quote that really stuck with me was, "A decision has been made to keep internal affairs weak." >> No other individual would get the same type of deference that this officer got at that scene. >> I just don't think they did their job and I think all of them should pay for it. >> [music] >> In today's >> Today's video, we're going to be taking a look at a disturbing documentary done by my local newspaper here on Long Island, Newsday, where they exposed the terrifying lack of accountability here on Long Island when it comes to law enforcement, where as we've seen thugs with badges like police union president Lou Civello act with impunity. I have to tell you that this documentary is hard to watch, but I'm going to be watching it with you and giving my thoughts. Please take a second to hit the like button and share this video anywhere you can on social media because I believe that every single freedom-loving American needs to see this. >> It was the absolute [music] worst day of my life. I hope I never experience anything even remotely like it ever again. [music] >> On the afternoon of August 10th, 2020, an off-duty Suffolk County police officer [music] critically injured 2-year-old Reardon Covorus. >> For 48 hours, I didn't know if he would ever wake up. >> Reardon Covorus's story [music] is one of eight cases that Newsday uncovered showing Nassau and Suffolk police imposed little or no discipline on officers in [music] cases involving serious injuries or deaths. >> There were things [music] out of the ordinary about how the whole case was handled. Um things with no explanation. >> [music] >> Newsday documented the toll. Four people dead. >> There's no reason he should have died. >> [music] >> No reason. >> And four people seriously injured. >> I should have been able to have at least one person I [music] could depended on. >> Survivors and families haunted by knowing that actions or inactions [music] by members of Long Island's two major police forces >> Two major police forces and two of the highest paid police forces in the country. >> Left them with physical and emotional scars. [music] This is Newsday's investigation inside internal [music] affairs. >> And I screamed like, "What do you mean Danny died? How could Danny die?" >> And she told me that Dayna was >> [snorts] >> Daniel McDonal and Dayna Simmons were mentally impaired men who stopped breathing and died after struggles with Suffolk County police. >> As far as you're aware, what was the police investigation into what happened? >> What investigation? >> What investigation is right because we all know that they investigate themselves and find no wrongdoing, which is exactly why I advocate for a civilian review board, but not just any civilian review board, a civilian review board that has subpoena powers and disciplinary powers in order to hold power to account. >> Officers arrested McDonal on a misdemeanor charge. He was calm and cooperated with police. A sergeant refused to give McDonal the medications he used to control bipolar disorder. He had a psychiatric episode. >> He told them from the beginning that he struggles with bipolar disorder and he needs medication. >> Medication was brought. He asked for it. The mother brought it in. How do you not provide it? >> 13 officers joined in extracting McDonald from a cell and in subduing him often chest down in a position that risked suffocation. >> 13 or 14 individuals for one person who was in a holding cell? >> Because they're cowards. They're cowards. They operate like a gang. Gangs jump people. Law enforcement officers who act like gang members jump people. It's really simple. >> Never wanted to, nor have I still to this day, seen the pictures and I don't want to. Um I mean, there was a footprint on Danny's back. >> [snorts] >> Danny Le Simmons was a son and a brother. He was autistic and lived in a group home. >> He was severely speech delayed where he could only answer with one-word sentences. What happened that night, everyone in our facility had funnel cake. For some reason, they did not want to give Danny Le another piece of funnel cake. The kid that loves to eat and he had a episode. He was upset. >> Three Suffolk officers arrived to take Simmons to the hospital. An officer mentioned handcuffs. Simmons ran into another room. The officers chased and started a struggle to handcuff him behind his back. >> He didn't see them as someone that was there to help him. >> Why would he? Why would he? They're probably rude, unprofessional like we've seen in my videos and other videos online. Why would anybody feel safe in that situation, especially somebody who has special needs and has a disorder? It doesn't make any sense, but yet law enforcement continue with these brutish tactics and lack of accountability. >> After he was handcuffed, the officers pinned Simmons to the floor for an estimated 9 minutes. Often in a position that risks suffocation. The medical examiner cited chest compression during a violent struggle. >> Officers placed their body weight on top of him for such a prolonged amount of time. That clearly resulted in his death. The medical examiner confirmed this. >> Internal Affairs filed no disciplinary charges against the officers. The police department refused to give Newsday the case report. >> Think about that for a minute. They refused to give any police reports or investigation reports as a result of this incident. The death was ruled a homicide, but yet no one's been fired or went to jail. It is infuriating that this is happening, especially here in my home county. >> But lawsuit testimony provided a glimpse into the IA investigation. An officer who pressed her weight on Simmons torso after he was handcuffed behind his back testified that she was never interviewed for the departmental probe. In the McDonald case, a homicide detective found no evidence of criminal wrongdoing after interviewing the officers who helped subdue McDonald. Many of the interviews lasted for 5 minutes or less according to his notes. >> The investigation was completely shotty. The period, point-blank. >> The Suffolk Internal Affairs investigation upheld 10 counts of wrongdoing, but Internal Affairs missed the 18-month deadline for filing disciplinary charges. There was no punishment. >> Why would that take so long to complete an Internal Affairs investigation? >> I can't really give you a compelling answer for that. Unit was swamped really without an influx of personnel. Uh it was an uphill climb. >> You just heard the former commander of Internal Affairs right here in this county say that he was understaffed, but yet the Suffolk County Police Department almost have a billion-dollar yearly budget. A billion dollars, and they can't fund Internal Affairs. >> Not one single person was held accountable for any misconduct. It's It's a It's appalling. It's appalling. If If Danny did that to someone, he would have been held accountable. But, because he's not a cop. >> No one had one day off. No one was suspended for a half a second. Business as usual. It's just the family that's left to pick up the pieces. >> Internal Affairs, or IA, [music] is a unit within most police departments that is responsible for investigating police misconduct. In [music] other words, IA is supposed to police the police. Michael Calterelli commanded Suffolk Internal Affairs Unit from 2012 to 2014. [music] >> I made sergeant, then I made lieutenant, and I went to Internal Affairs as a an investigator. >> In Newsday interviews, he said he was ordered to reform Internal Affairs, and wound up transferred to a career-ending assignment when he tried to do just that. >> I guess what struck me most about it was that it was an assignment with no downtime whatsoever. You always had stuff to do. >> The unit did not have adequate staff. Cases were not getting done in a timely fashion, and the one quote that really stuck with me was, "A decision has been made to keep Internal Affairs weak." >> Calterelli was the only present or former Suffolk or Nassau police official willing to publicly discuss any of Newsday's eight [music] case histories. Nassau Commissioner Patrick Ryder declined interview requests. >> The infamous Nassau County Police Commissioner Patrick "Psycho" Ryder, who was arrested for official misconduct, perjury, and police brutality, which we exposed using our 14-foot LED billboard truck right in front of his residence. It doesn't shock me that he declined to comment. >> [music] >> Suffolk Commissioner Rodney Harrison declined or did not respond to interview requests. The officers named in Inside Internal Affairs case histories either declined to speak on the record or did not [music] respond to interview requests. >> This is my reason right here. Right? You'll see it comes down past my eye a little bit and then goes all the way to like back here. Like right here where there's another soft spot. >> Julius Scott suffered traumatic brain injury in a car crash caused by off-duty Suffolk officer Welden Trayton. Trayton had been drinking that day. >> Would you like to know what >> Oh, yeah. >> Welden Trayton's punishment >> Yes, of course. I definitely would. >> He He lost four days of sick and vacation time. >> That's it? Wow. >> Four days, ladies and gentlemen. Look at the damage he caused to this man while he was drinking and driving and he got four days. >> My eyes racing right now. >> This is where he he was in his friend's car. >> friend's car. >> Right. Every time I go to that corner, it's heart-wrenching. It's It's I have to go that way. >> Just a block from her house, Isabel Scott found her son critically injured. >> The sight that I seen was like unbelievable. I never seen nothing like that in my life. His whole scalp was in front of his face. For all this was hanging in his face and I didn't want to alert him, so I just took my hand and I rubbed it back. This part I just rubbed it back and it's something Julius, calm down. You know, it's going to be okay. The ambulance is coming. You're going to be okay. And he passed out. >> Trayton, a top DWI officer at the time, had been drinking at local bars. Whether he was intoxicated will never be known. >> [music] >> First, a Suffolk police union delegate drove Trayton away from the scene to a hospital. >> This is the same Suffolk Police Union that is now being led by Lou Civello, the thug with the badge who unlawfully arrested me. This This is what they do, and that's my opinion based on the evidence that we're looking at right now. >> In effect, buying time for any alcohol in his system to dissipate. When a police supervisor finally asked Drayton to submit to a breath test, [music] Drayton refused. Police issued a $150 ticket. Later, an Internal Affairs investigation docked him 4 days pay. >> think the police department should have given him a a severe discipline? >> Absolutely. The Inside Internal Affairs case histories often revealed the forces that blocked police discipline. A police union contract spared Officer Michael Althouse after his actions led to a drunken driving death. Althouse failed to subject Peter Fedden, a deli owner who gave discounted food to police officers, to sobriety testing after a high-speed crash. Instead, Althouse drove Fedden home in a police car. Within minutes, Fedden got the keys to his mother's car, drove at 100 mph, and crashed again, this time fatally, into a brick wall. His blood alcohol level was almost twice the legal limit for driving. Internal Affairs substantiated a misconduct charge and called for Althouse to be fired. But Althouse stopped the police commissioner from taking any action as allowed by the contract. An arbitrator kept him on the job. >> It's a never-ending circle of corruption and conflicts. Money flows from the Suffolk County PBA to the candidates' pockets. Those candidates become the legislators, and they negotiate the contracts that benefit the PBA. >> In the case of cab driver Thomas Morahan, top brass rejected an Internal Affairs finding of misconduct by two sergeants. Off-duty Nassau officer Anthony D. Leonardo shot and wounded Morahan without cause in a road rage incident. DeLeonardo had been drinking. Suffolk police had grounds to charge DeLeonardo with assault, criminal law experts said. Instead, Suffolk police wrongfully charged Morahan with assaulting DeLeonardo. >> Look at that. It's the same old song and dance. They charged the victim of the crime and not the perpetrator, not the criminal. It is insane. >> Internal Affairs Commander Caldarola recommended charges against two sergeants in connection with the wrongful arrest. On a copy of Caldarola's report, the chief of detectives scrawled, "Delete and out." next to evidence. >> Look how bold they are. Delete and out. Next to evidence to take out of their report. That's how bold they are. This is what they do. Wake up, America. Wake up, residents of Suffolk County. >> Caldarola stood firm, but the commissioner filed no charges. >> The taxi cab case, you know, I I was basically told to change my findings on that and I I refused. That That case was That was the absolute last straw. That was the one that I knew I was out of there. >> In Wyandanch in 2017, two Suffolk officers pulled over a car for no reported reason. [music] They let the driver go, but arrested this young woman because of outstanding non-criminal [music] warrants. Inside the first precinct, they shackled the woman to a metal table [music] >> Unfortunately, that metal table looks all too familiar to me as I was shackled to one that looks just like it for 7 hours after the police union president, the thug with a badge, he doesn't like that I expose thugs like him to the world. >> in a holding area. Then, one of the officers, Christopher McCoy, [music] took the woman to a small room and shut the door. >> In whatever level of detail you're comfortable with. >> The officer brought me back into what I now know is a juvenile holding area. There were no cameras. It was just a closed-off area. Look like a small office type of situation and in there he he made me um he made me perform oral sex on him. My choice was either put my life in danger and tell him no or just to do it and live to tell somebody. >> After footsteps passed the door, McCoy stopped and brought her back to the holding area. Later, McCoy and his partner, Mark Pav, returned the woman to the private room. Pav left her alone with McCoy and McCoy assaulted her again. >> And when he was done, he like he shoved a roll of tissue at me and told me to clean up and fix my hair. >> The woman also retained McCoy's DNA on her sweater for proof. >> I did and I walked back and I sat back out in the holding [clears throat] area and I had to act like everything was fine because I was surrounded. It's it was just very hurtful on another level because I couldn't chalk this up to being like, oh, this is this one guy. It just It was to a point where it was like, no, this is a system. Like, they're leaving this man alone in this room to do what he's doing to me. >> Now, before we find out the punishment that Officer McCoy received for his vile and disgusting criminal depraved behavior, I want you to think to yourself, what would happen to any one of us that doesn't wear a badge? What would happen if we committed such a heinous crime against a young woman? McCoy was sentenced to a year in federal prison after pleading guilty. >> Only a year? This piece of [ __ ] only got a year in prison? Any one of us who committed such a despicable act would be behind bars for more than a decade and decades if we did it to a law enforcement officer. Make no mistake. This is disgusting. This is not justice. >> Pav denies knowledge of what McCoy had done, but Suffolk police regulations required officers to observe the well-being of prisoners at least every half hour and to log their observations. Pav made nine false entries in a log, some recording that he had observed the woman during the period when McCoy had assaulted her. The department missed the deadline [music] to discipline Pav. >> They also have to look at everyone that was on in the precinct in that shift. Everyone's walking past this room. This guy's in here uh with this woman by himself for certain period of times and he keeps bringing her back there. They're comfortable for a reason. This is a group effort. It's not just him that should have been disciplined. >> For half a century in New York, a law known as 50-A imposed near total secrecy on police disciplinary records. After the police murder of George Floyd, the state legislature repealed 50-A. Lawmakers said all charges against police officers, substantiated and unsubstantiated, were open to public view. Still, [music] the Nassau Police Department kept almost all records sealed. When documents were provided, they were often blacked out almost to the point of being indecipherable. >> This is exactly what the Suffolk County Police Department and the Nassau County Police Department, which is led by Police Commissioner Patrick Ryder do. They will violate the open records law here in New York State and fight you with your own money in court for years to prevent you from receiving any sort of transparency. That is their MO. >> The Suffolk Department released records only of substantiated charges and only after delays as long as 18 months. Lawsuits that allege misconduct by Nassau and Suffolk officers [music] gave insight internal affairs reporters a start on building their case histories. The counties paid almost 15 million to settle those suits. >> 15 million dollars of my money, of your money, all of our money. Because Nassau County and Suffolk County receive federal dollars just like any other county. So, it's all of our money that they waste on these despicable vile thugs with badges instead of holding them accountable because they're a gang. I'll say it again. They are America's biggest gang and you need to wake up America because we need to hold them accountable. >> Those who were injured in the cases, their families, and the survivors of those who died suffered similar blockades in the search for answers. In the case of Joanna Bird, the family waited more than a decade for internal affairs answers. >> When we ride past the cemetery, she would tell me that she was going to be there one day, very soon. >> Mother of two, Joanna Bird, was trapped in a relationship with Leonardo Valdez Cruz, an obsessed and violent gang member. >> He would be hiding behind a car, hiding in the bush, or hiding on the side of the house. >> And he used the taser and rape her and and tell her how much he was going to kill her. >> Once Valdez Cruz kidnapped Bird at gunpoint, putting her in the trunk of his car. >> And I saw strangle marks. And then she showed me her hip. All the skin here was ripped up. >> Bird attempted to break free from her relationship with Valdez Cruz, also known as Pito. From jail, he sent letters describing exactly how he would murder her. Bird saved the letters as evidence to be used in the event of her death. Bird did what she was supposed to do. She got court orders barring Valdez Cruz from coming near her. He repeatedly ignored the orders, so did the police. >> So, I want to ask you all a question. The coward police union president here in Suffolk County, Lou Civello, currently has a stay-away order protection against me for peacefully protesting his violence and his crimes with my 14-foot LED billboard truck. Now, if I violated that stay-away order protection, what do you think the Suffolk County Police Department would do in response to me violating that order protection? Nothing, like they did in this case? >> And then all the cops would have said was, "Take a walk, Pito. Go take a walk. Get out of here." >> Go take a walk, Shawn. You know you're not supposed to be peacefully protesting our union president. Just go take a walk. >> He really was going to end up killing her, and order protection wasn't going to stop it. >> [music] >> Valdes Cruz murdered Joanna Bird at her mother's house on March 19th, [music] 2009. He stabbed her more times than the medical examiner could [music] count, killing her exactly as he had described in his letters. He was convicted [music] and sentenced to life without parole. Nassau Internal Affairs investigated how police failed to protect Bird. Newsday sought the file, including through court actions. The department kept it secret for 12 years under 50-A. Then, the Nassau District Attorney's Office gave the 781-page file to USA Today, saying the repeal of 50-A mandated its release. USA Today partnered with Newsday. Each produced its own report. The file revealed that the department had charged 14 officers with misconduct. Newsday uncovered that the department docked the officers between 4 hours and 24 days of sick and vacation time. Among the most striking revelations, Detective Jeffrey Raymond maneuvered to have Valdes Cruz, who was working as an informant, released from custody 2 days before Valdes Cruz murdered Byrd. >> I just wanted to go home. So, I was telling Raymond and and the and the detectives who locked me up what they wanted to hear. >> Raymond is the officer who lost only 4 hours of pay. He now commands the department's burglary squad. >> Of course he does, because that's what happens when you engage in corruption and misconduct. You get promoted at the Suffolk County and Nassau County Police Department. That's exactly what happens. That's why Nassau County has a police commissioner who's been arrested for official misconduct, perjury, and police brutality. >> The police were called every day. Every day they all they did was tell them "Why don't you take a walk and don't come back?" >> I just don't think they did their job, and I think all of them should pay for it. >> Former Commissioner Lawrence Mulvey told Newsday that he wanted to impose tougher discipline. But the Nassau PBA used political muscle and stopped him. >> Of course they did, because that's what they do. The Suffolk County PBA, led by Lou Civello, and the Nassau County PBA, they obstruct discipline against officers using their political power, endorsements, door knocking, campaign contributions to put pressure on the people who can hold them accountable. >> The fact that nobody lost their jobs in this case, and that nobody was prosecuted in this case, shows how invalid the process is when you have uh the police investigating themselves. >> Criminal justice experts reached similar conclusions after reviewing other Newsday case histories. >> It is clear that these departments are not capable of properly investigating themselves. It's very hard to investigate people that you work side by side with on a day-to-day basis, that whose houses you may go to, who you may go to happy hour with. >> To require or ask a a homicide detective to investigate people in their own department is a very difficult task. Um just the, you know, the allegiance, the, uh, fact that they're both working for the same police department, they're both on the same side, I think is asking too much. >> And that's why I'm a firm proponent of outside entities coming in to handle these types of investigations so that conflict of interest can be neutralized. >> You know, if we could have the best of both worlds and have an outside agency investigating these things, but make sure that the outside agency has the resources, the expertise to handle it. Uh, that to me would be the best of both worlds. >> [music] >> I knew that, um, the other driver had refused a field sobriety test. I just thought it was kind of I I just wondered, you know, if he was not impaired, then why would he refuse? >> Security camera footage of the crash that severely injured 2-year-old Reardon Covaris illuminates actions by both the off-duty officer who caused the crash and the police response, including a PBA representative driving the officer away from the scene to a hospital. There, the officer involved refused to submit to a breath test. Police did not seek a court order for a blood alcohol test, preventing the district attorney from determining whether he was intoxicated and should be charged with assault for injuring Reardon. >> If the district attorney did not have the evidence to charge the officer for assault, then they should have charged every single PBA member with obstruction of justice. >> Having gave me the information that the other driver was a police officer, it completely shifted my entire narrative of the situation. And I felt like I had to reprocess everything all over again. >> The officer involved was David Mascarella. >> They gave the off-duty officer more benefits than he was entitled to. >> No other individual would get the same type of deference that this officer got at that scene. >> How the crash will affect Reardon's future worries his family. >> It was basically an uneven skull fracture. So, that part of it was depressed and pressing down on his brain. And they had to do emergency surgery to repair his skull and to check his brain and to make sure there wasn't any further damage. >> Okay, show me where the mint ice cream is. >> He had to learn everything again. Every milestone that every new parent celebrates so much when their baby's doing it, 3 months, 6 months, 9 months, 12 months, 18 months, we went through all those. And then we were back to square one. >> You got to take it in your hand, goof. >> Okay. You ready, Chase? It's our turn. >> Part of what's so scary now, we just don't know what the future will bring. There could be very, very long-lasting effects of this that might affect his ability to ever be employed or the type of employment or the quality of life he might have. It might It might affect ultimately life expectancy and the age he actually lives to and and what kind of a life he leads until then. And we just don't know. >> Payroll records show the department has suspended Mascarella without pay. A spokesperson for the department said they are moving to fire him. >> They eventually will fire him, not charge him with anything, but eventually will fire him. >> But, the Suffolk County Police have refused to provide Internal Affairs documents to either the Kovacs family or to Newsday. >> We know that there are things you'll never know. It's just a circumstance of the universe. >> Not by the universe, but by the Suffolk County Police Department and the Suffolk County PBA. >> It's also so hard in this case to know there are things we should know. They're being withheld from us. It's impossible to move on until we get the answers that some people [music] have and not telling us. >> I I know it's too late for anybody to be held truly accountable or, you know, >> [music] >> at least acknowledge that there was wrongdoing and then try and fix like the policies. >> I don't know the whole story. I guess I'll never know the whole story. The people who know the whole story I hope you find out >> [music] >> the whole story. I would really like to know. >> The thing too that I think a lot of people don't realize justice helps. Justice helps [music] victims a lot. >> I'm not worth anything is what I'm getting. That's that's what That's what a lot of victims hear that I'm not worth anything when [music] we don't get our justice. >> Since this documentary aired, in Nassau and Suffolk police both adopted police reform plans as mandated by state law. They each agreed to more widespread deployment of officer body cameras and have published more data on police interactions with the public. Suffolk police also started a civilian board to review some officer misconduct complaints, but critics remain skeptical of the department's commitment to transparency and say that obtaining most disciplinary records and body camera footage is still difficult. >> All right, fellow patriots. I know that documentary wasn't easy to watch, but I appreciate you watching till the end. Please share this. This needs to be seen by as many people as possible, especially here in my home county of Suffolk County, New York. You will see in a future video of mine that many of the residents here in my county blindly support the police because they don't understand the horrors that take place behind closed doors, what happens with the police union, DUIs, excessive force, every type of misconduct, criminal, sexual assault misconduct, everything that you've seen in this video, the depraved behavior, the lack of accountability, the utter lack of transparency even until this day. This is the same exact internal affairs division that is going to be investigating my internal affairs complaints against Officer Ahmad who assaulted me and came into my backyard without a warrant, and Luis Acevillo who kidnapped me by unlawfully arresting me, having me sit chained to a desk for 7 hours all because of his ego. He's an evil man, and I do not regret putting the billboard truck in front of his residence. I will continue to put the billboard truck in front of his residence after the order of protection that coward received by a biased judge is no more. I will hold every single person, legislator, county executive, judge, prosecutor, law enforcement officer, I will hold you all accountable. I will continue to expose the corruption, the misconduct, the lack of transparency, the lack of accountability because the residents here in Suffolk County deserve the right to know, and every freedom-loving American who loves our Constitution, who believes in accountability needs to hear this information as well. Let me know your thoughts on this in the comment section below. As always, stay safe. God bless. I'll see you in the next one. Long Island Audit. Peace.