NAACP New Rochelle protests acquittal of cop charged with attempted assault in 2021 incident caught on video
NEW ROCHELLE, N.Y. -- An off-duty New Rochelle cop has been acquitted on attempted assault charges and now the police commissioner must decide if the officer can keep his job.
The acquittal is not sitting well with a civil rights group. As CBS2's Tony Aiello reported, there were protests Friday outside police headquarters.
"Detective Vaccaro needs to be terminated immediately," said Angela Davis Farrish of NAACP New Rochelle.
The NAACP is leading the call for the firing of Detective Michael Vaccaro, who was found not guilty of attempted assault by Judge Matthew Costa.
The case goes back to Feb. 2021, when surveillance video shows Malik Fogg chasing and then pounding on a car driven by his mother.
Fogg went after Vaccaro when he noticed the off-duty cop recording the scene.
After Fogg chased Vaccaro's car, uniformed cops arrived. As they took Fogg into custody, Vaccaro threw three punches and a kick. A cop pushed Vaccaro away, but he re-engaged and pushed Fogg's head onto the sidewalk.
"He should render assistance, not exact vengeance, not throw punches, punches that are not designed to detain, and when Mr. Fogg was on the ground he actually, pushing his face into the the concrete. So all of that shows he had lost his composure at that time, and that's clearly conduct unbecoming an officer," said Mayo Bartlett, a civil rights attorney.
Vaccaro is a 16-year veteran cop who made $160,000 in 2020. He has numerous commendations in his personnel file, along with nine letters of reprimand.
Vaccaro's lawyer said video shows Fogg raising his fist to strike Vaccaro, and the off-duty cop was justified to intervene. The judge ultimately ruled the prosecution did not prove its case.
"The city of New Rochelle acted responsibly in referring this case to the DA," said Min. Mark McLean of NAACP New Rochelle.
Disappointed by the verdict, the civil rights group is hopeful an ongoing disciplinary review ends with Vaccaro losing his job.
The New Rochelle police union criticized the district attorney for an "appallingly slanted" presentation of the facts at the trial. The union said Vaccaro never should have been charged.
