Justin Volpe, the cop accused of beating and sodomizing Haitian immigrant, Abner Louima, in 1997, is asking for an early release after contracting COVID-19 in prison. Volpe sodomized Louima with a jagged wooden handle in August 1997 after claiming that Louima had punched him during a fight at East Flatbush, Brooklyn’s popular Club Rendez-Vous, Daily News reported.
Louima was arrested amid the fight that broke out, and reports said Volpe assaulted him while in the police car after the arrest. Volpe assaulted him again later that night at the police station. He then went ahead to sodomize a handcuffed Louima with the wood handle from either a broomstick or plunger, trial testimony and witnesses said. Authorities never found the instrument.
Louima, who claimed he was repeatedly called “n—-r” during the attack and was left bleeding on the floor of a cell, spent two months in a hospital after surgery for his injuries. Reports said he suffered a ruptured colon and bladder, and his teeth were destroyed in the attack. When news of the attack broke, mass protests were held in the U.S.
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Volpe, who has since been at a federal prison in Texas for 21 years over the incident, now wants an early release. “I tested positive for COVID-19 and had several symptoms. No medical treatment of any kind was provided or offered,” Volpe wrote in a release filing on his own behalf.
“Please let me have the chance to meet any needs with private insurance and at home with my family’s love.”
Louima now lives in Miami. He said even though he has forgiven Volpe, he will never forget the attack. He believes that it is up to the justice system to decide whether or not to release Volpe. “It’s so many years after the crime. Twenty-one years is not 21 days. I think at least he’s spent enough time thinking about his actions,” Louima told Daily News.
